The Best Homework Excuse Ever
by Solia
Summary: Two girls, Chase and Ari, see the flaws of this world and seek to find out what it is and who they are.
1. Chapter One

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever  
  
Rating: PG-13, I guess. Not much language.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this ¡V I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.  
  
Author's notes: Be nice if you review, and please do! This is my first fanfiction, so I am new to this, but I'm kind of sensitive to heavy criticism. I wrote this with much influence from my good friend Lady Delerith, so I thank her for helping this to become the first story I have ever finished. I also thank Alina for being the first to read it. ˆº Solia  
  
Lady Delerith's Author Note: Hey all. This is Lady Delerith and although all the master mind of the writing was all Solia's doing, good job, I helped with the plot. Please review because it would mean a lot to us. Also updates will be coming very, very soon so keep looking. It can only get better   
  
THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter one  
  
The girl stared at her reflection in the antique mirror that hung on her wall. She still wasn't sure whom it was staring back at her. That girl, herself, with the chest-length dark brown hair and black eyes; who was she? Did that face belong to Sophie Evans, fourteen-year-old mathematics extraordinaire, well-behaved student, dutiful daughter and bickering sister of three? Or was that Chase, illegal hacker, quiet individual, bewildered member of this somehow disbelieved society?  
  
With a sigh, she gave up. She still wasn't sure, but she'd have to decide sooner or later. More than likely sooner than later, though. The longer she remained both Chase and Sophie the further she risked legal trouble and danger to her family. She grabbed her brush and dragged it through her hair roughly. Noticing that this caused crackly friction, she ran it through again, softer. She had to look at least a little presentable if she was going to fit in at Saint Michael's Christian Academy for Girls. She glanced down at her uniform, short, pleated black skirt, white blouse, short black tie, high white socks, polished black shoes. She looked like a complete snob. But that was the school uniform. Besides that, they were her favourite colours.  
  
Chase, that was what she was calling herself today, although she should probably be Sophie, stood back and admired her dead straight hair in the full-length mirror. She looked good now that her hair wasn't a tangled mess. She carefully placed her black headband on top, fitting it behind her ears.  
  
She had only gotten into SMCAG because of her mathematics and technology skills. Her twin sister, Carrie, was a true scientist, historian, mathematician, and she was a top English student. Chase was smart in all of those areas; she just chose to focus entirely on her computing and hacking. Sometimes it seemed like the only way to learn anything was to break the law.  
  
"Sophie, are you done? Mum said we're going in five minutes,¨ Carrie said, hurrying into the room, collecting books. Her dark hair was up in a strict but fashionable ponytail because she knew that her sister would have her hair out. They hated being too similar.  
  
Today was the first day of grade ten for the twins. They'd attended the snotty private school for two years now, and Carrie loved it. Chase only liked the maths and technology clubs, even though nobody else at the entire school thought along the same lines as her.  
  
"Nearly, ¨ Chase answered serenely, collecting her school things and packing them into her bag at a much more leisurely pace. To most, she seemed like a dreamer, floating around only half-paying attention to what was happening around her. Truthfully, Chase knew exactly what was happening in her world, she just tried to ignore it, because it annoyed her. It annoyed her that she didn't know exactly what it was that annoyed her. Something wasn't quite right about the world, she just couldn't quite put her finger on what that small error was. Nobody else seemed to notice the little flaws that Chase could see everyday.  
  
"Move it! ¨ Carrie snapped, slinging her stylish black bag over her shoulder. Chase shot her a nasty look and copied her action. She wasn't slow, she was much more quick-witted than any of her three sisters.  
  
"Girls! I'm going now! ¨ Marilyn Evans, better known in this household as Mum, called down the hall. Chase followed her sister out of their bedroom, half-amusedly listening to the frantic searching of Keira, their sister in grade twelve.  
  
" Mum! I can't find my copy of Sporting Events of the Twentieth Century,¨ she screeched, rushing out of her room, brushing her hair hurriedly and straightening her tie. Mum was always well dressed. She worked in a boutique.  
  
"Well, I haven't got it! ¨ Mum snapped, collecting the car keys. "Maybe your sisters borrowed it?¨  
  
"Carrie? Sophie?¨ Keira demanded. Carrie gave her a sour look as she elegantly tossed her hair over her shoulder.  
  
"What would I want with your stupid sport book? ¨ she asked snootily. Chase shook her head. She usually would have come up with a bickering, tarty comment to throw at her older sister, but not this time. She felt kind of sorry for Keira, in a completely academic family, she had to be born with a great love of sport and exercise. She was sort of left out because of that, particularly by Carrie, Mum and their other sister, Sadie. But Chase was the real outcast, the 'weird' child with all the funny ideals and strange comments and questions about the world.  
  
"Which one of you two little bitches took it? ¨ Keira growled. Chase glared at her, all sympathy gone.  
  
"We said we don't have it,¨ she retorted, following Carrie down the hall to the front door. "Besides, they never make you do text book work on the first day back.¨  
  
"Mum!¨ Keira howled. "I can't find it!¨  
  
"Go without it,¨ Carrie said, stepping out the front door. Chase followed, getting into the red car beside her.  
  
"Keira, get in here now!¨ Mum shouted, starting the engine. The door opened, and Sadie, the thirteen-year-old daughter, came running out, securing her piggy-tails.  
  
'You forgot about me,¨ she complained, sounding hurt. "Mum, you said you' d curl my hair for my first day. ¨ She tried to twist a limp, inexpertly curled ringlet around her finger, but it didn't work. Sighing, she tightened the hair ties holding her two bottom-of-ribs-length sandy brown pigtails.  
  
"Poor Sadie, first day at high school,¨ Carrie said scathingly, leaning over Chase to sneer at her younger sister. The young girl rolled her eyes in a most pronounced way.  
  
"Yeah, what a pity, now you'll have to put up with me telling all your school friends about your most embarrassing moments,¨ she shot back.  
  
"I still can't understand how you even got a place at SMCAG,¨ Carrie said nastily as Keira grudgingly got into the front passenger seat and slammed the door. She said it as Smacag.  
  
"Because I'm smart,¨ Sadie said smugly.  
  
"No, you' re a little dumb ass,¨ Keira snapped, glaring at her in the mirror. You only got in because you have three sisters there who get good marks, so they hope that you'll live up to my reputation.¨  
  
"Yours? ¨ Chase asked, getting annoyed. "Yeah, I'm sure the principal was really hoping for another sports freak when she sent the enrolment forms for Sade.¨  
  
"The headmistress was probably hoping for another Carrie Evans,¨ Chase's twin said brightly.  
  
"Sure.¨  
  
"Doubt it,¨ Chase said just loud enough for Carrie to hear.  
  
"Or maybe, just maybe, the all-wonderful, all-Carrie-loving principal wanted Sadie for Sadie,¨ the youngest girl grumbled. Mum ignored her daughters' bickering for the entire fifteen-minute trip to the school. She was well practised.  
  
"Here we are,¨ she announced loudly as she pulled up beside the school gate. She fished into her purse, pulling a few notes out. "Keira, here you go, honey, have fun. Your last year!¨ She gave her oldest daughter a quick kiss on the cheek as Keira got out of the car, a five- dollar note in her hand to spend at the expensive cafeteria. "Carrie, Sophie, five each for you, darlings.¨ She smiled lovingly at Carrie. Chase was slightly disappointed, as usual, that the close-mother- daughter smile didn't quite carry over to her. "Remember, girls, if you see Sadie wandering around, lost, help her find her way, would you?¨ Mum continued, handing another five dollars to Sadie.  
  
"Yep, sure,¨ Chase said in unison with Carrie as she got out of the car, thinking privately that if she did see Sadie wanting to find room 20, she would innocently direct her to room 72.  
  
"Don't go yet, girls! ¨ Mum said quickly. With a sigh, Chase and Carrie stopped in their getaway-from-Mum-and-showing-Sadie-around.  
  
"Hurry, up, Sade,¨ Carrie said grumpily.  
  
" Sophie and Carrie will take care of you, okay, darling? If you get lost, just ask them. They'll look after you. ¨ Sadie slowly got out of the car, dragging her bag, identical to Chase, Carrie and Keira's. She looked like she didn't honestly believe what their mother had just told her, but she didn't say anything. She just smiled vaguely and nodded agreeably.  
  
"Okay, sure, Mum, see you at three-thirty!¨ she called, shutting the door, still smiling brightly. She waved, turning around to walk towards the school building with her sisters. As soon as their mother couldn't see her face, she dropped the false smile and rolled her eyes. "Man, she can talk.¨  
  
"You're telling us,¨ Chase said, slinging her bag over shoulder more comfortably. "And don't you even think about coming up to us while we're talking to our friends to whine about being lost. You won't be welcome.¨  
  
"I wouldn't bother hanging out with you guys would just ruin my fresh reputation.¨ Sadie looked around as they walked up the front walk. "I wonder if Alyssa's here yet? ¨ she pondered aloud. Alyssa Larson was the only girl from her primary school that had been accepted into SMCAG.  
  
"Oh, look, there's Sarah-Jane! ¨ Carrie said with delight upon spotting her best friend. Leaving Chase's side, she bolted over to Sarah and embraced her in a friendly hug, demanding, "How was Switzerland? Tell me everything! ¨  
  
"Where're your fabled friends?¨ Sadie asked evilly to Chase. Her older sister nodded at a group of girls standing beside the doors of the building, waving cheerily.  
  
"Over there. Do you have any friends yet, Sade?¨ she asked innocently. The younger girl narrowed her eyes. Chase ignored her as she walked up to her friends.  
  
"Sophie!¨ Jasmine Green screamed, bolting down the ornamental stairs. Her long red ringlets flew out behind her, as usual. "Sophie! Sofe! How was your holiday?¨ Jasmine stopped in front of Chase, beaming. The girl was one of her best friends, along with Rayleigh and, yes, Carrie, but she could be a little over-the-top.  
  
"Hi, Jazz,¨ she said with a quick smile. Jasmine shot a kind smile at Sadie.  
  
"First day?¨ she asked nicely. Sadie nodded, "Come and meet everyone.¨  
  
"Nah, leave her to survive on her own. We all had to,¨ Chase insisted. But she followed overly nice Jasmine to the group, walking beside her as-of-yet- not-ditched little sister.  
  
"Morning, Sophie. Nice holiday?¨ Rayleigh Ether said casually, weaving her black plaits together with expert skill. Chase nodded with a warmer smile than she would give most others.  
  
All of these girls were her good friends, Jasmine and Rayleigh in particular. But they were all the same as everyone else in the world; happy. Happy with a mistaken world, unable to see the little faults Chase spent her life noticing. Not that that was bad; they were the greatest people to hang around. Of course, it would be nice to meet someone else in this crazy world that at least had the same ability to think outside the square.  
  
"Hey, guys, this is Sadie, Sophie's little sister! ¨ Jasmine said bouncily. Rayleigh, Anne, Linda, Caroline and Jennifer smiled or waved at Sadie.  
  
"Do you know the way to the year eight's meeting room?¨ Jasmine asked Sadie in a motherly, kind voice. Sadie shook her head. "Cool. I'll show you. Bye, guys." With a wave, she was gone, leading Sadie off into the building.  
  
"Do you think she'll lose her for me?¨ Chase asked.  
  
"Jasmine? No way, ¨ Linda said, slapping Anne's hand, "Stop it! ¨  
  
"What? ¨ Anne asked guiltily. She had been miserably poking at her plump stomach, not that she was fat. She just worried a lot, and ate to quench her nerves, and so on. She was losing weight now that she had joined a sport team, but she didn't seem to realise that.  
  
"Don't, ¨ Linda said, flicking her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. She, Caroline and a girl called Tina were the three girls who were friends with both Evans twins, and held the two groups together. At that moment, Carrie followed Sarah-Jane and some other girl over and seated herself on the stone steps beside Linda, annoyed that she didn't have her friend's undivided attention.  
  
"Hey,¨ Sarah said. She indicated the other girl. "This is Kye Saunders. She's new this year. ¨  
  
Everyone smiled and/or waved at the mahogany-haired girl. Chase gave Kye a quick glance. She found her eyes dart back. Kye studied her with her lavender eyes, and Chase felt stunned. Unlike everybody else in this world, this girl's eyes held the same bewildered lost expression as her own.  
  
She can see the flaws, Chase realised. She had finally met another person who could see the mistakes of this world. Another person who didn't quite believe the world around her. The first person Chase had ever met like herself. The first of so many.  
  
"Hi,¨ she managed. She didn't want to be staring at Kye like a queer, and she didn't want to let on to the others that they were alike. They wouldn't understand.  
  
"I'm Kye,¨ the new girl said, not looking at anyone else. Like Chase, she understood the instant kinship between them.  
  
"My name's Sophie,¨ Chase said finally. Kye at last turned her intense lavender gaze to the others. She smiled casually at them, introducing herself.  
  
"That's Rayleigh, Linda, Sarah, and Jenny,¨ Caroline said immediately, taking charge, pointing at each girl as she said their names. "This is Anne, and this is Carrie.¨  
  
"Twins,¨ Kye remarked, studying Carrie quickly. She seemed surprised and disappointed to see that she wasn't the same as Chase.  
  
"Yep, unfortunately,¨ Carrie said brightly.  
  
"Oh, and that's Jasmine,¨ Caroline added, pointing at the redhead practically bouncing towards them, Sadie in tow. They were both laughing.  
  
"Good morning!¨ Jasmine said cheerfully, beaming at Kye.  
  
"Kye's new,¨ Carrie said. Jasmine beamed again.  
  
"I'm Jasmine!¨ she said, dropping down onto the steps beside Anne. "Sade, sit next to me,¨ she added, shuffling over to make room for Chase and Carrie' s little sister. Both twins groaned loudly.  
  
"You brought her back!¨ Carrie complained, "Why didn't you leave her wherever you took her?¨  
  
"Her friend isn't here yet,¨ Jasmine said indignantly, sounding offended. Sadie didn't bother sitting down, the bell rang inside the building and out, signaling the start of the school year. The majority of the group groaned.  
  
"Great. A whole year ahead of me in a snobby school, ¨ Kye said moodily, following Sarah inside.  
  
"Where did she transfer from?¨ Chase asked her sister as they shuffled inside through the mass of girls trying to all get inside the huge building through the front doors.  
  
"Who knows?¨ Carrie shrugged. "She didn't even look at me until she realised that I was your identical twin.¨ Being the outgoing twin, she wasn't used to coming second.  
  
" Gee, sorry about that,¨ Chase said, rolling her eyes. She silently watched Sadie jogging to keep up with Jasmine, then turned back to her twin. "I guess it must be my fault that we're twins, then, since I was born after you.¨  
  
"Exactly,¨ Carrie said vaguely, listening more to Linda laughing lightly about something Jennifer's brother did over the holidays.  
  
" I swear, I thought Aunt Lulu was going to kill Jordan when she' d seen what he had done!¨ Jenny said. "I mean, she even chased him all over the lawn!"  
  
Chase glanced back at the girls behind her when she heard the word chased. She always seemed to respond to it now.  
  
"I can't wait to start my new Geography class,¨ Anne gushed. "I so hope I got Mr. Dane¨  
  
"Did you get into that extra-curricular art class?¨ Caroline asked Rayleigh, leaning over her shoulder so that her strawberry waves fell over her friend's book. "Oh, that's not your new timetable, is it, Ray?¨  
  
"No. I got it here,¨ Rayleigh said, fishing it out of her bag. "You have to go to admin this year to get it. I got mine this morning when I got here.¨ The entire group of year ten girls crowded around her to try and see her new classes.  
  
"You got Mr Dane, lucky cow,¡¨ Anne said enviously. Kye didn't bother looking; it wouldn't have made much sense to her anyway. Chase heard Jenny call out to Adriana, a girl in year nine who also happened to be her cousin. Kye glanced up in response and dropped the book she had in her hand.  
  
"Oops,¨ she murmured, stooping down to get it but missing. Chase instantly grabbed it for her, but, by accident, one of the pages flopped open. The lined page was littered with scribbles of strange yet curiously familiar symbols.  
  
Kye reached out a hand, and Chase closed the book before she got a good look and handed it her.  
  
"Here,¨ she said quickly.  
  
"Thanks,¨ the other said. She stuffed the exercise book into her bag and followed the group, who had decided spontaneously to retrieve their timetables. The lot of them went to admin and got into the lines. Carrie was the first to get to the desks, so she just collected all of the schedules.  
  
"Linda,¨ she said, reading the names at the top of each page in the pile. She handed the top one to the blonde girl, jumping up and down on her toes in excitement. As soon as she grasped it in her hands, Anne and Caroline attacked her, trying to see, too.  
  
"Caroline, here's yours,¨ Carrie continued, and Caroline left Linda to the mercy of Anne as she snatched her own school timetable. "Jasmine, Sarah, mine.¨ she shoved hers into her bag. "I've got Jenny's here, Sadie, and here's Anne's.¨  
  
"I did get Mr. Dane for Geography!¨ Anne squealed.  
  
"And Sophie.¨ Carrie was about to hold the final sheet above her head, but Chase was too quick for her, snatching it away first.  
  
"See you all later, I have to see the school counselor or something,¨ Kye said, giving them all a quick wave as she wandered away, meeting Chase's eyes for just a moment. The she turned and left them to study their timetables and start for their classes.  
  
Chase read through her timetable quickly. She spotted one of those infamous flaws, a mismatched shadow that only she, possibly the most perceptive person in the school, would ever notice. She had been the kind of child who obsessed over strange occurrences. Like the time she had laid awake in her bed for hours, staring at the shadow of the ceiling fan in her room. She had noticed that the shadow wasn't quite at the right angle, judging from the placement of the jarred door, the only light source. She had even woken her sister up so that she could stand on her bed and actually measure the distance between the fan and the door, and then use her protractor to measure the degrees of the incoming light. And it was true, the shadow had been five degrees too far right. But no one else had cared that there was a shadow in her room that was defying the laws of physics. Carrie had gone to their parents and complained about being woken, and they could see no reason why anyone should care about weird shadows.  
  
Now the shadow of Jenny's pigtails was wrong. The light entering the glass window near the roof cast a silhouette of Jenny's hairstyle onto Chase's timetable, but the impression on the paper was that Jennifer had perfectly even pigtails. She didn't. It was a pathetically small oddity that people shouldn't notice, but Chase, with nothing better to do, did.  
  
"Thank God I'm in your form!¨ Rayleigh said, skipping to keep up with Chase, Carrie and Jasmine. Sadie never left Jasmine's side until she spotted Alyssa. With a wave, she ran away to her friend. Thank God for Alyssa, now they would be left alone.  
  
"Bye!¨ Anne said vaguely, shoving her form class room door open and going inside alone. Sarah-Jane, Caroline and Jennifer turned left for their own rooms' one at a time. Linda, her surname being Beattie, had to go to the first room in the hall, right down the hall. The rolls were done in alphabetical order. Rayleigh, Jasmine and obviously Carrie were in Chase' s form.  
  
"Welcome back to school, students!¨ Ms Klein began warmly. She was an old, highly religious teacher, but she was pretty nice. "I trust that you all have your timetables?¨  
  
A shy, clumsy, very much teased girl called Geraldine realised then that she hadn't gotten hers, and, to the sniggers of the class, she left. Kids could be so cruel.  
  
"Well, I assume that the rest of you did, anyway,¨ Ms Klein added to quieten the others. She fussily pulled out her roll and began taking attendance.  
  
Everyone present answered dully to her name. For them, this boredom was reality. It was the way the world was meant to work, no matter how much they wished otherwise. For Chase, this was some weird cage. She sighed, nobody else, other than perhaps Kye, could understand.  
  
Why had those symbols Kye had drawn seem so familiar? Where had she seen them?  
  
Lady Delerith's A/N; Dum, dum, Daaaaaaa. Please review! 


	2. Chapter Two

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever Rating: PG-13. Very little language and none of it is graphic.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.  
  
Authors' notes:  
  
Solia: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter! I really appreciate it. Thanks to Del, for loading it up for me. I must be such a pain, knowing nothing...  
  
Delerith: How do you like our story so far? It will get better and much more 'Matrixy' in this chapter! And don't worry, we'll update soon. Never fear for Lady Delerith and Solia are here!  
  
THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter two  
  
Ari stepped nervously into the computer technology lab. 'Nervous?' She felt annoyed at herself. She was never nervous. This whole no-friends deal really sucked. She wished she'd met Sarah-Jane and asked the way to the counsellor earlier. Then, maybe, she would have gotten time to get to know those girls. She could hardly remember their names – Ashley? Kerry? Caroline? Annie? – but she still remembered Sophie. The twins had looked so alike, but it was obvious that they were very different. Carrie, or Kerry, or whatever her name was, was just a normal girl, an airhead like everyone else in this strange world. She wasn't special. She was happy with her reality.  
  
Sophie had a different expression in her black eyes. It was the same look Ari had felt her entire life. Haunted, confused, odd. Like Ari, Sophie could tell that there was something wrong with the world around them. Something they couldn't quite put their finger on, but that was driving them up the wall for not knowing. Something that set them apart from everyone and everything else.  
  
"Ah – our new girl!" the teacher of this class said loudly. Ari tried not to wince. Every teacher had said that so far. Thank God – if there was one in this horrible place – that this was the second-to-last lesson of the day. The whole class looked up at her.  
  
"Yeah," Ari said quickly, trying not to look away from the curious stares.  
  
"Um..." The teacher fumbled for his roll. He sat in the front of the two- computer tables, at his desk, a big wooden cross hanging from a chain on his neck. Some people were so obsessive of their religion. But then again, she was in a Christian school now.  
  
"Amanda Saunders?" the teacher asked, looking over his giant reading glasses. Wanting to groan aloud, Ari nodded. Why couldn't her dumb parents just enrol her as Kye next time? She hated her parents, and the fact that they insisted on enrolling her as Amanda, despite the fact that she hadn't gone by the name for years, just made her hatred more intense.  
  
"That's me, but can you change my name, please? I don't usually call myself that. My name's Kye." "I am afraid we are not permitted to change a child's Christian names on the registers unless cleared by a parent," the teacher said. His badge said that his name was Mr Barry. "You will need to get a signed slip from your parents, and then take it administration, and they will make the changes."  
  
Ari nodded, hiding her disappointment. No way would her parents change it for her. They 'wouldn't have time'. She'd just have to forge their signatures... Oh, well, she'd done worse. She'd done much, much worse illegal stuff. Hacking computers, breaking into locked Internet sites under the alias of Ari...  
  
"Amanda, why do you not sit here, beside Sophie? We are doing a quick test right now, to check your levels of skill, so we need quiet. Not silence, but quiet." Mr Barry pointed at a spare computer. Ari dropped her book bag beside the chair and sank into it, grateful that now the other girls weren't staring at her.  
  
"Kye?"  
  
Ari turned quickly, and realised that she'd been seated beside Sophie – the Sophie from that morning, not any other Sophie. The girl brushed her chest- length dark-chocolate brown hair out of her face and smiled hesitantly.  
  
"Hi," she said. She glanced quickly at their teacher and switched on Ari's computer with incredible, practiced speed. She obviously spent a lot of time on computers.  
  
Ari felt a smile quirk at her mouth. She and Sophie seemed to have a lot in common. Although of course, it was highly unlikely that Sophie was an unauthorised hacker after hours, referring to herself mentally as her hacking alias, while also calling herself Sophie. Highly unlikely, but maybe possible?  
  
"You like computers?" Ari asked, forgetting to keep quiet. Mr Barry shot her a nasty look. Sophie glanced up at him, and as soon as he looked away, she rolled her eyes.  
  
"Yeah," she answered finally in a low voice. Before Ari could take control of her computer, Sophie brought up the typing program they were using for the test. She also, with another glance at Mr Barry, accessed an Internet instant-e-mail site. Ari noticed that she had the same site on her own computer screen. Sophie turned back to hers, flashing a quick smile as she clicked on the e-mail site. She waited for Ari to silently join the site – calling herself Kye instead of her preferred name of Ari – and then she started typing a message to her, her slender fingers flying over keyboard like she was born to it.  
  
This test is so boring. Ari smiled over at her as she read the first message. Feeling her competitive streak coming out and determined to type faster than Sophie, she selected 'reply', and typed as fast as she could, never making mistakes.  
  
I usually love computers, but this makes typing seem so sad.  
  
I know. I'd kill for some challenges. Fun, you know? Like, on the Internet. Too bad the school's got big blocks and stuff against outside systems – I want to go to outside sites.  
  
Ari wished that she could just go home and go down into her basement, where her computer was hidden. Her parents and stupid brother didn't seem to notice her long disappearances. They didn't notice anything, not even her suicide attempts years ago. She was often missing for half the day, secretly hacking, breaking into protected sites. Or, sometimes, receiving mysterious, somewhat disturbing messages from a very unusual outside source...  
  
Mr Barry was heading in their direction, so they both hid the site behind the typing program and got to work.  
  
"Well, you two can certainly type," he said approvingly, not noticing Ari and Sophie's nervous, guilty looks as they frantically typed to make up for lost time. Thankfully, he was too caught up in their actual typing to notice how little words were on their screens. After a minute, he left them alone, going off to tell a girl called Rebecca, who had just exclaimed, "Stupid godforsaken computers!" that she shouldn't use God's name in vain.  
  
"I wasn't!" Rebecca said crossly, folding her arms and standing up. While Mr Barry was distracted, Ari brought up the e-mail site again and typed a super-fast message to Sophie.  
  
This school is strict. Sophie read it in half a second and started to reply.  
  
Yeah, but like everything in this world, it's not so bad if you can find a way around the rules.  
  
Ari smiled. That was something she would say. She sent another message, glancing over her shoulder at their teacher. Mr Barry was now angrily telling Rebecca that she was sinfully disobeying her teacher by refusing to go to the school counsellor for her bad behaviour. Quite a few other girls were sniggering, although whenever Mr Barry turned to see who it was, they all went quiet and expressionless.  
  
Who said anything about heeding the rules at all? Ari computer asked.  
  
Usually, I'd agree, but this is school. Outside of school, yeah – rules were made to be broken. Learn them well so that you can break them properly.  
  
Ari tried to think of a response, but then Sophie started typing again, kind of urgently.  
  
Kye, what happened to your hands? Even the words looked demanding.  
  
Ari glanced down at her hands, confused. Did Sophie have something against black nail polish? Oh, right. She knew what it was now. Her wrists, she meant. The crisscrossing white lines on her wrists.  
  
Those were symbols of her independence and frustration. Before she had gotten into hacking, she had been so furious with herself for not knowing what was wrong with the world that she had decided that it wasn't worth living in. She had figured that the only way out of this place was death. Besides, she had other reasons for wanting out. She lived in a big house with rich parents, but that was about all she had ever had going for her. She was too rebellious and angry to make lasting friendships, so she had never had much of a school life. Ari had never gotten along with her parents or her despised, 'perfect' brother, so her home life was messed up. The whole family was screwed. They had too much money and didn't seem to realise half the time that they even had a daughter. They didn't even know that she was a weirdo. Ari's favourite story of all time was Matilda. She could so easily relate to the little girl in that great book. She liked to imagine that she had special abilities that might some day be discovered and respected by someone who would come and take her away from her ignorant family.  
  
Then she had gotten hooked on finding out what this 'Matrix' was, and suicide took backseat.  
  
Suicide scars, Ari replied shamelessly. I'm not suicidal any more, though. Don't worry.  
  
Sophie gave her a slow, calculating look. She was obviously more sympathetic and life respecting than Ari could ever hope to be. But she had more to live for. She had heaps of friends, family that cared...  
  
Sophie glanced over her shoulder, causing Ari to do the same. When they looked back, they were in for a surprise.  
  
The screen of Ari's computer had started to flicker. To her bewilderment, so had Sophie's. Then both screens blacked out.  
  
"What?" Sophie muttered, tapping her screen uselessly. She looked over at Ari's, noticed that they had the same problem, and then looked around the class. Ari leaned around her computer to look at the girls in front of her, two of Sophie's friends, although she couldn't remember their names.  
  
Those two girls were still busily working on their computers, their screens perfect. In fact, everyone else in the room was doing fine with their computers. So why had the two computers being used by the best computing students in the class suddenly shut off?  
  
"Kye..."  
  
Ari glanced back at Sophie. The other girl was staring at her own screen with avid attention. Ari blinked when she saw what was happening to Sophie's (and her own, she realised with a sudden shock) screen. Both were still black, but at the top, green type had started to write across them.  
  
'Having fun at school?...'  
  
"Huh?" Sophie asked quietly. Like Ari, she didn't try to escape the program or whatever had taken over. Ari had no idea why Sophie didn't, but for herself, she didn't bother because this had happened before. Just never at school or anywhere but at home. This was the unknown contactor, the outside system or person who kept sending her those mysterious messages that made little or no sense.  
  
'You have questions. I have answers.'  
  
Ari paid careful attention. It was true – she had questions. She reminded herself to pretend afterwards to Sophie that she had no idea what this all meant. Sure, Sophie obviously had questions, too. Exactly the same questions, in fact. But Ari wasn't sure if she was ready for them. After all, Ari was the one who had been contacted by this person before.  
  
'Follow the white rabbit... Follow the yellow-brick road... Into the woods... Take the carriage home...'  
  
Huh? Ari asked herself mentally. Who did this person think they were? Dorothy going to Oz? Alice in Wonderland? And where the hell did they think she was going to find all of this stuff? Whoever it was that was typing this was quite possibly out of their mind.  
  
'Trouble, girls...'  
  
"Sophie? Amanda?"  
  
They both snapped their heads around to Mr Barry, now completely over telling Rebecca off. He stood behind them, ignoring their guilty faces as he stared at the screens. Ari turned back, getting worried – what if he saw the messages? But the screens were both blank. The green words were gone.  
  
"Why did you turn your computers off?" Mr Barry demanded. Ari glanced nervously at Sophie, wishing that she wasn't so worried. Somewhere, a bell went.  
  
"That's why," Sophie said quickly, scooping up her bag and starting for the door.  
  
"Not so fast, girls," Mr Barry said disapprovingly. He released the rest of the class and turned back to Ari and Sophie. "I see that you turned your computers off ahead of time so that I would not see your test results. I trust that you saved them, because I will be checking them tomorrow after lunch."  
  
"Uh, yeah," Sophie lied quickly. Well, what were they supposed to say? 'Oh, sorry, sir, but we didn't get time to save our three paragraphs of typing because some unknown outside source caused our computers to crash'? Yeah, right. I sounded stupid even in Ari's head.  
  
They both sighed internally as Mr Barry set them their detentions for that afternoon. Half an hour of scrubbing the desks in the library! Gross – Sophie miserably filled Ari in about the gum girls put underneath them...  
  
"Anyway – about that program crash," Sophie added quickly, as Rayleigh started toward them with Carrie, Sophie's twin. "I have no idea what it was about. You?"  
  
"No clue," Ari said with a would-be lost smile.  
  
"Hi," Rayleigh said. Again, for like the hundredth time that day, she was twisting small locks of her hair into plaits. She linked her arm into Ari's. "You're in my RE class," she added, rolling her eyes.  
  
She said RE, but it sounded like 'Ari'. The owner of the name glanced up at her, responding to the identity, then looked down again. She had to stop responding to that name.  
  
Rayleigh led her away. Ari walked beside her, but she was thinking of that final message. How did this person always know what was happening? It was like he or she was forever watching her. 


	3. Chapter Three

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes: Solia: Formatting on the last chapter - I realise that it didn't work. Please don't blame Delerith completely. It's my fault for being completely computer-illiterate, resulting in her having to load it for me. All of those reviews would have been frame-worthy if the formatting thing hadn't been screwed up. Oh, well, I'm over it.

One more thing, though: This story is not a normal story. It was originally a prequel to another story, taking place three years later, but the original kind of never got finished. Therefore, The Best Homework Excuse Ever does not have the usual structure of a story. Ie, a beginning, complication, suspense build-up, climax and resolution. It might, I'm not sure, but there you have it. It was written as a prologue.

Lady Delerith: Thankyou all for all your reviews. Solia and I have a bet against each other about who has the better character. In your next reviews please say if you prefer either Ari (Lady Delerith, because she is soooo cool) OR Chase (Solia, who is not) Thankyou :p.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER:

Chapter three

Chase let her head lie on the cool table in the mathematics class. She loved maths – it made such perfect sense to her, like so little did – but today she just wasn't in the mood. How could she be? That weird person was contacting her at school now, too.

"I can't believe you got detention," Carrie said, rolling her eyes. Like usual, she sat beside her in this class, mostly so that she could copy Chase's answers and stay in the top class. "In your favourite class, too."

"I'll get another one for my second favourite class if you don't shut up, and I'll make sure you pay dearly," Chase threatened, although her heart wasn't in it.

"That Kye girl was in your class. Did you sit with her?" Carrie asked, ignoring the threat.

"Yes."

"Really?" Carrie asked in surprise. Chase wasn't often very social.

"Yes."

"How are you gonna get home? You know Mum has to be at work by four – she can't pick you up at four and be at work at the same time."

"I know that. I'll walk."

"It's a long way."

"I'll catch a bus." Chase was getting annoyed with this interrogation. "Just tell Mum where I am."

"You got a detention first day back," Carrie said gleefully, leaning over her sister's shoulder to peek at her answer to question six. "Oh, it was eighteen point three... Right, I get it." She scribbled down the number. She did a few pretend calculations, carrying non-existent ones over and so forth. Chase sighed, handing her the entire sheet in her absent-mindedness. Carrie took it and began copying everything exactly while Chase stared into space.  
  
How strange that both computers had flicked off and played the same messages. Maybe whoever it was that liked contacting her and teasing her with strange half-answers hadn't known which of the two girls was Chase, and had just sent the words to both 'odd children'. Chase very much doubted whether her parents would want her hanging out with someone like Kye Saunders. Someone so alike herself, a dreamer with weird ideas, maybe badly influential. Well, definitely badly influential if one counted the suicide scars on her wrists. They looked old, though, years old.

"Remember – homework due tomorrow morning," Miss Mason announced to the class. "You are all dismissed."

Great – homework, the last thing Chase needed today. Oh, well, she was pretty good at coming up with homework excuses. Maybe she could think of a brilliant one overnight. Carrie got up beside Chase, shoving both sheets into her bag.

"Sophie," she said, frowning. Chase looked back at her. "I just got the weirdest feeling. Like I might regret this moment if I don't say the right thing. You ever get that feeling?"

"Yeah, usually just before I insult a teacher," Chase answered with a grin. Carrie rolled her eyes, not amused.

"Well, I know what I want to say," she said, annoyed that she hadn't been taken too seriously. She believed in twin telepathy and psychic bonds. Chase didn't. "I hope you get run over on your way home. Or kidnapped."

"That isn't nice," Chase said reasonably. "You should be careful what you wish for – it might just come true."

"Wouldn't that be wonderful?" Carrie wondered aloud. Joking, of course.

"You know, one day you're going to wake up and I'm not going to be there any more," her sister said in annoyance. "One day I'll just be gone, either having run away or been abducted. Then you'll be sorry. Who's going to give you maths answers when I'm gone?"

Carrie laughed as she walked off.

"Bye," she added over her shoulder, joining Linda, her answer. Because if Chase disappeared or died or whatever, Linda would make a good substitute.

"I'll see you later," Chase called, not realising the untruth of her words. She turned to the library door, across from her maths room. She almost walked straight into the first of the year eight girls rushing out.

"Sophie." Sadie caught her arm and pulled herself out of the mad rush from the doors. "Come on, let's go home," she said. Her pigtails had fallen down during the day, so now they hung loosely but prettily down.

"Can't. I got a detention," Chase answered. She patted her sister on the head jokingly. "Innocent, perfect little Sadie will get one of those one day. Carrie's already going to the car. Tell Mum I'll catch a bus or something. I didn't eat lunch so I think five dollars will be enough."

"Okay," Sadie said, leaning away from her pats but not leaving yet. "This school sucks, by the way. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did. We all did."

"Yes, but I didn't think you were serious," Sadie answered. "At least all of my teachers thought I was smart."

"Maybe they did want Sadie for Sadie after all," Chase said, not in the mood to be mean right then. Like her twin, she had the feeling that if she was, she would forever regret it.

"I'll be off now," Sadie said, flicking her pigtails over her shoulder. "Enjoy your detention. And remember – don't take rides from strangers, no matter what candy they offer."

She grinned and left, sandy-brown hair swinging. With a final sigh, Chase checked the empty hall. After the last bell, people cleared out pretty quickly here. Kye wasn't anywhere to be seen. Chase shoved open the doors, entering alone.

Mr Barry sat at one of the long desks, examining some papers. He pretended not to notice – one of his annoying traits apart from his dislike of abbreviations – even as Chase walked all the way up to his desk.

"Ah, Miss Evans," he said, looking up and discontinuing his pretending not to notice her presence. "I am afraid that your friend, Miss Saunders, got here long before you, and she got the detention job of filing my new paperwork away. You, I fear, have been left with the task of scrubbing desks." Chase nodded, but inside she was groaning. Not only had she been given the worse job because of her dawdling with Carrie and Sadie, but she also she hated the way Mr Barry talked. It was annoying. Hadn't the guy ever heard of abbreviations?

"Yes, sir," she agreed, going in search of hot soapy water and a sponge.

Thirty minutes later, she finally got to tip the murky water down the sink. Nobody had cleaned the library desks over the holidays, those lazy cleaners. In fact, they hadn't been cleaned since she was in year eight. She should know – she was the one to clean them. That was what she got for accessing an off-limits, locked school program in an attempt to change her grades. Chase pretended not to notice the tiny flicker of bright green, barely a speck, in the dirty water as she shook the bucket in a funny circle. That was one kind of weird errors she saw every now and then, although the rarest kind. The speck wasn't quite big enough to make out what it was, nor did it ever last long enough.

It was an odd thing that existed, although not logically, so Chase chose to ignore it. It didn't do to dwell on what she alone could see. People already thought she was a weirdo.

Once Mr Barry had her word that she wouldn't turn her computer off before time again, he cleared her, and she left, grumbling quietly. She had no idea what time the buses ran in the afternoons around the school. Bag slung over one shoulder; she wandered across the front lawn of the school, alone. There were no people around now, but she got the smallest feeling that she wasn't alone at all. With a slight frown, she turned in the direction of the school woodlands.

Sitting in the lush lawn not twenty metres away was small, fluffy white rabbit, his little pink nose delicately sniffing the air.

"How adorable," she murmured. She started to turn around, then froze.

Follow the white rabbit...

Without much consideration, Chase walked over to the small white animal. As she got closer, it slowly hopped closer to the woodlands, slowing down and peering over its shoulder as though making sure that she was following. Which she certainly was. Her curiosity drove her after the little bunny, following it along the lawn. She glanced down at her feet as she walked, and saw that she and the rabbit were travelling along a strip of mustard- coloured bricks laid into the ground as a path for the groundkeeper.

Follow the yellow-brick road...

Chase didn't care about the woods. She wasn't scared of insects and stuff, so she followed the rabbit into the bushland. Most of the trees were quite dense, but Chase managed to squeeze past them in the dimmer light of the woods.

Into the woods...

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a second white rabbit jumped into the small path. Both bunnies hopped forward and underneath a rotting log as another person walked straight into Chase's path.

With a squeal, both Chase and Kye jumped back, pressing themselves against trees. After a moment, they both burst into nervous giggles.

"I was just trying out that crazy rabbit thing," Kye laughed, embarrassed. She nervously ran her hand through her low ponytail. Her hair was obviously naturally quite dark, the only proof being her slight regrowth, as her skin was light, like Chase's. Her hair had been dyed to mahogany purple, perhaps to compliment her lavender eyes.

"Me, too," Chase said, looking around for whatever she had come here for. Kye was doing the same. They would have been staring around in circles – in all the wrong directions – if it hadn't been for the fright of their lives.  
  
"Look up!" somebody shouted from nearby. Chase and Kye both stared upwards.  
  
And saw the man perched in the tree above them, waiting. He was dressed in a brown suit, with shaded glasses and a mean, cold expression. He looked terribly menacing, especially to two teenage girls with no idea what they were facing. Suddenly the man leaped down at Kye, his movement spider-like.  
  
With a scream from both of them, Chase grabbed Kye's wrist and bolted, through the trees. She could hear the man crashing through the trees behind them, but she didn't dare glance back. That is, until Kye tripped over a fallen branch Chase had tried to drag her over.

"Ow!" Kye cried out, stumbling. Chase turned to catch her wrist again, but she missed, and was shocked to see the evil-looking man shoving the branches aside with amazing speed and strength.

"Hurry!" she shrieked, hopping on one foot, ready to bolt again as soon as Kye had her footing. By the time she had a second later, the man was gaining on them. Their only advantage was that they were smaller, and could move quicker and quieter through the trees, although at the moment the quiet part wasn't an issue. Getting enough space between them so that they should be quiet was the problem.

"Hide!"

Hearing that same warning female voice again, both girls ducked underneath a low hanging branch and stopped a moment later behind a thick-trunk tree. Chase, breathing hard, peered around it in fear. That man was still advancing, but now numerous gunshots rang out. Chase flinched and saw a few thick vines snap as well-aimed bullets severed them. They had been holding a long-dead branch from falling for quite a while, but now that its only supports were gone, the heavy branch fell earthwards, cracking away from the remainder of where it had been attached to its tree.

The man looked up a moment before it fell and pinned him. He struggled beneath the branch.

Still terrified, even though the threat was now apparently stuck, Chase bolted for the edge of the woods, Kye right behind her. That man had weird strength – he looked like he'd be able to get that branch off in a while if he tried.

Chase didn't stop running until she reached the safety of the girls' restrooms. She fell against the brick wall, panting. Kye supported herself on the sink, her breathing uneven and heavy. She looked up at herself in the mirror above it. Her face was pale, her lavender eyes wide. Chase met her eyes in the mirror. She, also, looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Who was that?" Kye gasped out. Chase didn't have an answer. She wondered if that man was the one who had been contacting her. Had she led Kye into danger? "What was that?"

"Maybe he sent us that stupid message?" Chase suggested. But Kye shook her head.

"I reckon it was that girl," she said stubbornly. Chase, taking deep, calming breaths, looked at her.

"What girl?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

"I think that girl who helped us sent the message," Kye said.

Chase frowned.

"I don't get it. What girl? I didn't see any girl."

She honestly had no clue what Kye was on about.

"The girl – well, she wasn't really a girl, I don't think. About twenty or something, I'd say. The one who yelled out to us."

"Oh, did you see her?" Chase asked, feeling both her breathing and heartbeat returning to normal. She had gotten a huge fright, but now she was recovering. Kye nodded. She turned on the tap and took a few quick mouthfuls of water.

"Tell me," she said, wiping the water away from her mouth. "Do you think we were really in danger back there, or do you think we just had tight nerves, and overreacted?"

Chase considered it. Honestly, a man dressed in a suit jumping from a tree in the way she would describe and chasing them through woodland – it did sound a little out-there. Nobody would ever believe their account.

"I think maybe we overreacted," Chase admitted. "It scared me half to death, though. Maybe it was just the scary lighting or something."

Kye nodded hopefully. Like Chase, she obviously wanted to make what had happened seem completely unreal so that she could look back and say that she had been safe. It was human nature to belittle terrifying situations and make them appear, to themselves, stupid, to reduce the fear later on.

"Perhaps we were all worked up about following those little rabbits, and the yellow grass. And maybe..." Kye continued, but Chase felt her heart falling. Kye had had the same experience.

She had followed the rabbit, a path of yellow grass, gone into the woods... it made the whole thing seem a little more real, a little more dangerous. Someone was playing around, being deliberately scary...

But the worst thing was that this person, maybe that young woman Kye was talking about or the man in the suit, had two teenage targets.

This person was targeting Chase and Kye.

"Maybe we just have serious cases of paranoia," Kye finished. She hesitantly started for the door, peering out first before stepping back into the sunlight. Chase followed.

"I need to catch a bus home," she said, glancing at her watch. Four- fifteen, which meant she was late if there was a four PM bus. Kye shook her head.

"I can't believe we were so scared," she said, laughing shakily. Obviously, the fright was still haunting her memory, too. "I catch a bus, too. I just don't know where the bus stop is."

Chase led the way across the front lawn of the school, not daring to glance at the woods. Talking and laughing, they started down the road, not remotely scared now.

"I'm going to go home and lock myself in my room, and read Matilda," Kye proclaimed.

"Why?" Chase asked. Personally, she loved reading, but Kye didn't strike her as the type who liked it, too.

"I don't read books other than that," Kye said with a grin. "It's my favourite book ever. I... Well, I like to think that... My life is kind of like hers to begin with. I can only hope that my special abilities get noticed and that I get taken away from my crappy parents." She smiled. "Do you hate your parents, too?"

"No, I love my family," Chase said, surprised. "They love me, too, although they don't understand me."

"Do they understand your sister?"

"Which one? Carrie? Yeah, my mum and dad understand Carrie and my other two sisters, but not me," Chase said with a shrug.

"How weird – you and Carrie (that's it, isn't it?) are identical twins, but you sound like such different people," said Kye.

"We are. Isn't it scary – even twins can be so different?"

They had almost reached the abandoned little bus shelter when a sleek black car with tinted windows pulled up beside them. The door opened.

"Need a ride?" the young woman inside asked. She had dark brown hair, darker brown than Chase's, maybe even black, and it was cut boyishly short. But the style was still quite feminine. She had cool blue eyes, and she wore a black leather jumpsuit that was tight to her slight, slender frame.

"No, thanks," Chase answered, remembering Sadie's parting joke and moving away. Beside her, Kye hadn't yet seen into the car, but she also moved forwards and away, nervous now.

"Sure?" a male voice sounded from the unknown interior of the car.

"We're sure," Kye answered tensely, speeding up.

"Run, Kye," Chase mumbled. The car was still slowly following their progress. They broke into synchronised runs.

"Ari and Chase?" the young woman called.

Chase stopped dead.

Kye did the same.

How did the woman know that name? It was a secret identity, and nobody who knew that Chase existed knew what she looked like.

"What did you say?" Chase asked, her voice shaky. The two people in the front glanced back at her. There were two men, one bald with a thin moustache, and the other tan brown with a dark ponytail.

"How do you know?" Kye demanded, leaning around her new friend. Chase shot her a surprised look. What did she mean?

"Get in, I'll explain on the way," the twenty-or-so-year-old woman said. But Chase shook her head.

"So this is what adults mean when they talk about not getting into cars with strangers," she said.

Kye frowned.

"You're the one who helped us just now," she said, realising.

The woman nodded.

"I swear we won't hurt either of you. You followed the rabbit and the path into the woods. Now take the carriage home."   
  
Follow the white rabbit... Follow the yellow-brick road... Into the woods... Take the carriage home...  
  
This was Chase's chance to get the answers she was searching for. She sent a silent thought to her little sister: Sorry, Sadie, but this candy is too good to pass up.

"You sent me those messages." Both girls looked at each other in surprise as they said the same thing in unison. Both had thought that those messages were for themselves.

Now they knew.

They were for both of them.

Dun dun DUNNNN! Tune in next week for the next episode of 'The Best Homework Excuse Ever'.


	4. Chapter Four

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' Notes:

Lady Delerith: No, please, no. I don't want any frenzied gnomes eating my ears... Yes, well, anyway, I'm so glad you all love our story. Solia has been working extra, extra hard to make this story beyond perfect, so I hope you all like it. Read, Enjoy, Laugh, Cry, Wait with eager ersnest, have a great time reading =D.

Solia: I know I said it'd be updated after a week, but that was more of a figure of speech, you know? Like in soapies? Anyway, here it is. Chapter Four. Back to Ari. By the way, nobody has said which character they prefer. Please don't think you'll upset either me or Delerith – we need to know so we can settle our argument.

I know you all like Chase better. She's so much more real. (poking tongue at Delerith) Not that I dislike Ari. I just like me better.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter four

"Well done," the young woman said impatiently. "Hurry up, we haven't got all day. You have questions that need answering. I can take you to who you both seek."

"Morpheus," Sophie said immediately. Ari shot her a surprised look. That was exactly what she had wanted to say. Because it was true that she had spent the last eighteen months searching for this man.

"That's right," the woman said. "Now get in if you want to meet him." She moved over a little further to make room for both girls. Ari looked helplessly at Sophie. It went against all of her instincts to get into this car, but she really wanted to meet Morpheus. Plus, this girl had just saved their butts, so they sort of owed her their trust.

Finally, hesitantly, glancing up the street to make sure her parents weren't watching, for they would most certainly kill her for doing this, Ari got into the car beside the young dark haired woman. Sophie got in next to her, shutting the door carefully. She stiffly sat next to her, pressed against the door so that she could escape if need be. The car started moving.

"Right, so who the hell are you, anyway?" Ari demanded of the woman beside her. The man in the front, the bald one, turned in his seat to glare at her angrily.

"Watch your mouth, and don't speak to her that way," he ordered. The woman glared at him. It was an attempt on the man's behalf to impress the woman with quick defence – it wasn't appreciated.

But although Ari felt a little nervous, apparently her first strike of bravery in asking for the woman's name had sparked Sophie's own.

"No, I think _you_ shouldn't speak to _Kye_ like that," she said sharply. "After all, if you hurt us, we can get you put away for abduction of minors, physical harm and false pretences."

Ari noticed that she didn't mention 'if we get away'.

"That's a nice thought for you, but I don't like your chances," the man said back. There was something childish in the way he liked to argue. The young woman rolled her eyes.

"Don't be stupid, you're scaring them!" she snapped at him. He glared sullenly out his front window, sulking like a child. Still looking annoyed, she turned to the girls, forcing a softer smile.

"My name is Trinity," she introduced herself. "This is Apoc," she nodded at the driver with the ponytail, "and Cypher." The bald man grunted without looking back this time.

"I guess you already know us?" Ari supposed. "You mentioned my name before, but this is Sophie-"

"No, she got it right," Sophie interjected. "I'm Chase."

"Chase? As in, _Chase_? Hacker?" She'd known that Sophie was alike her, but this was getting weird.

"Yep. So you're Ari. Wow. I met you online once, when we were both trying to break into-" Suddenly realising that people were listening, Sophie – or Chase, or whatever – stopped herself. Had they just handed themselves over as criminals?

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with us," Trinity said. Ari tried to remember where she knew that name from, but Sophie – Chase – remembered first.

"You mean, you're _the Trinity_?" she asked. Of course! Trinity, the hacker – no wonder she wasn't going to hand them over to the law. The older girl nodded.

"Yes," she said. The car had entered a busy highway. She brushed a lock of her hair out of her eyes, even though it was only just long enough to do so. Ari wondered how she herself would look with such a short hairstyle. Maybe one day she'd cut it that short.

Sophie or Chase jumped nervously as a mobile phone rang. She was about to check her bag – apparently she brought a cell phone to school despite the rules – but then Trinity pulled her own out of her pocket in a flash. She answered it quickly.

"Yes?" she said. She was silent for a moment, and Ari felt her tense beside her. Something was wrong, very wrong. "Got it. Yes. Are you sure? Damn it!" Trinity was cut off by a roofless convertible car swerving in front of them. In the front, the man called Apoc swore loudly, dodging dangerously into the oncoming lanes to avoid a collision. Avoid? More like cause one, Ari thought in a panic as she was thrown against Sophie/Chase in a radical dodging move. Trinity grabbed the handhold above her head to stop herself from falling onto Ari. She hung up the phone.

"Tank was just calling to warn us of the agents," she said through gritted teeth. "Why do they always choose the worst times to show up?"

"Because they can," Cypher said over his shoulder. "And today, we have their precious batteries on board."

"If you've taken something that belongs to your enemies, why don't you just give it back? Won't that make them stop following?" Sophie/Chase asked, her voice small and innocent.

Trinity gave her a grim smile.

"For one thing, no, they'll still follow until they've killed us," she said.

"For another, you two are the things that belong to them that we've taken," Cypher said. Apoc swerved past the convertible, and Ari caught a glance of the driver – that man who had jumped down at her from the trees in the school nature area! She gave an involuntary squeak. She felt her heart skip a beat as he pulled out a gun, looking straight at the three females in the backseat. He raised his gun with a quick glance out the front window, aiming it at their window. Trinity didn't seem to have noticed – she was busy arguing a safe route with Apoc.

"Get down!" Ari screamed, pushing both Trinity and Sophie/Chase down by their shoulders. The bullet smashed through the window, flying through the spaces that their heads had been moments before and shattering the opposite window, too. Chase screamed, huddled against the door, showered by glass. A few more bullets followed. This was too American-car-movie-theme, but too real, too close.

Their car turned sharply in a full U-turn and Apoc took off again.

"Safe," he said gruffly. He apparently didn't speak very much. Trinity immediately sat up, trusting his judgement. She looked out the back window as Ari sat up, too.

"Thanks for that warning," she said sincerely to her. Trembling, Chase looked up.

"Yeah," she said weakly, looking terrified, near tears. She had little cuts from the glass.

"Not a problem," Ari said quickly, not liking all of the grateful attention right then. "One warning deserves another?" She directed the words at Trinity, who nodded expressionlessly. She looked over her shoulder out the back again at the convertible skidding around to try and keep chasing.

"Stop by that car," she ordered, pointing to a green sedan parked on the other side of the road. The driver had stopped to answer his phone. Trinity snatched out her own. Apoc raised a hand silently and she slapped it into his palm.

"Why are we slowing down?" Cypher demanded. He hadn't been listening.

"I'm taking them to Morpheus," Trinity explained impatiently, sitting up and getting ready to get out fast.

"What, are you crazy?" Cypher asked angrily. "The agent will follow you. Once he's done with you, he'll take out these two. Is that what you want?"

"Stop pretending that I have no idea how to handle myself, okay?" Trinity said angrily. "Chase, when I say, open the door and run to that car, okay? You too, Ari – run as fast as you can, and get into the back. Right?" Both girls nodded. She turned to the men in the front. "We'll need a distraction."

Apoc slowed the car almost to a stop.

"Go," Trinity said loudly. Startled, Chase shoved open her door and bolted for the car across the road, dodging cars. Ari shuffled out of the car and followed, narrowly avoiding a serious collision with a speeding van. Without speaking to the bewildered driver, Chase yanked open the back door of the sedan. Ari stopped as a fuel tanker zoomed past and almost ran her over. Trinity waited for just an instant until the truck was past, and then continued toward the sedan.

"Listen, Marilyn, I can't get the new shipment of women's fashion into the boutique until Wednesday next week... I know your oldest daughter has a sport carnival on that day, but what do you want me to do? I might be able to manage Tuesday..." The car owner didn't notice the teenage girls getting into the backseat of his vehicle. "Your youngest daughter's birthday party? Hell, I suppose that Thursday is your twins' library day? Hey, what's wrong with you women? This is my car!" the man yelled as Ari clambered in beside Chase, suddenly noticing.

"We're borrowing it," Trinity said firmly, pulling his door open. She snatched his phone from his hand and grabbed his collar and yanked him out of the drivers' seat. She tossed him away impatiently.

"You can't do that!" Chase said, her voice high with worry for the man.

"Watch me," Trinity answered, getting into the front seat. The man scrambled to his feet and waved furiously to stop. Ignoring him, Trinity restarted the engine.

"Stop! I'm not going to have some stupid woman driver like _you _take my car!" the man roared. Trinity moodily snatched the novelty cushion dice that hung from the rear-view mirror and grimaced as she grabbed a packet of cigarettes from beside the gearstick.

She leaned out the window as she stepped on the accelerator and dropped the man's personal items onto the next lane and then she sped off down the highway.

"You just stole somebody's car," Chase accused. She was staring at the mobile phone that was still on line with some woman who was talking loudly.

"Yeah. Your point?"

"You can't do that!" Ari agreed with Chase. This was getting outrageous. "Why are we resorting to this kind of illegal infringement, again? I forget."

"You want to live, don't you?" Trinity asked calmly. She ended the call and the voice stopped.

"Are we going to?" Chase asked.

"Is that a crack against my driving?"

"No," Chase said, blinking in surprise. "And I think... I think that was my mum on the phone just then."

Ari turned in her seat and looked back. Apoc and Cypher had caused a huge but minor car accident that blocked the entire road both ways. No cars could follow either the men or the girls.

"I don't think the owner of the car was too impressed," she commented. "I also don't think he liked the idea of a female driving his car."

"Bloody sexist males," Trinity said with surprising passion. "Men always make it seem as though we're totally incapable of anything. How did society turn out like this? You have no idea how hard it is a woman to get to my position."

"How did that myth of women can't drive come about, I wonder," Chase agreed, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She, like Ari, had no idea what Trinity meant by her 'position', but pretended otherwise. "I hate superior-sexism, but I can't really talk – I attend an all-girls school."

Ari almost laughed, and Trinity smirked. It seemed so weird that she and her new friend, a girl she barely knew called Chase, were sitting in the backseat of a stolen car discussing the problem of male superiority with a known terrorist. Trinity was internationally infamous for hacking super-computers and even killing people. But she seemed perfectly normal to Ari. A little reserved at first, but nice enough.

"All-girl's schools. The reason this world is so screwed."

Trinity took a turn-off, glancing in her mirror.

"We _should_ be okay," she muttered. She spotted the man's mobile phone sitting on the passenger seat as she drove down a quieter street. She snatched it up and tried to dial a number.

"Here, I'll do it," Ari suggested, not wanting to her to crash them all. Trinity tossed the phone over her shoulder.

"Thanks." She proceeded to tell Ari the long-winded number. Ari handed her back the phone. "Tank, where's Morpheus? Okay, thanks. Right." Trinity dropped the phone back where she had found it.

"You work for Morpheus, don't you?" Chase asked.

"In a matter of speaking," Trinity answered, turning carefully. "If you're asking if I work for a terrorist organisation, no, I don't. I'm not a terrorist."

"If you say so," Chase said doubtfully. "I'm not being accusing, but you have killed people – lots of people. If you're not a terrorist, what are you?"

Trinity laughed dryly.

"Don't worry - if I was going to kill you, I already would have. Funny. I'm involved with trying to 'save the world' and everyone calls me a terrorist. If only everybody knew. Oh, well, it isn't important. They're just Matrix idiots, anyway."

"Matrix?" Ari listened intently. She had been wondering for so long – what was the Matrix? Now Trinity had mentioned it.

"You'll find out soon enough," Trinity said, driving onto a darker, empty street. "I'm not really supposed to say much else, in case I stuff up Morpheus's big speech. It can be damaging to your mental health if you know too much and you take the blue pill."

"Pills?" Chase asked sceptically. Trinity smiled back at her as she stopped the car.

"You'll see. We're here."

MAYBE will be updated next week. Probably will take longer.


	5. Chapter Five

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13. Limited language in this story; nothing worse than what you hear in the films.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes:

Lady Delerith: Hey all, thankyou all so much for you reviews, it means a lot to us. Oh, if you are a fan of Sleepy Hollow (with the ever so hot Johnny Depp) if am currently writing a fan fiction for that, do not worry that its only a short prologue, I'll post more soon. Ciaou, love me XD.

Solia: Solia is not dead, she's just not here. Hehe. wipes tear away

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter five

Chase quietly got out of the 'borrowed' car, nervous and a little scared. Today was supposed to be her first, uneventful day back at school. She was meant to have chatted with her friends, misdirected Sadie, gone to classes... Done normal stuff. Instead, she had met another girl like herself, received another mysterious message from that secret person (who had turned out to be Trinity), been attacked by that man in the bushland, been picked up on the side of the road by strangers, been shot at... It was definitely the scariest day of her life to date yet also the most exciting.

"Where are we? I've never been here before," Ari said, following close behind her. How weird – Chase had known Ari for not even a day, and yet already she had known her as three different people.

"Near Brisbane City," Trinity admitted, slamming her door and starting toward a shabby building door nearby. She forced it open and led the girls inside. "We don't usually work here. It's too dangerous. You have to be careful when you walk down there." She nodded down the rickety wooden stairs. In the basement of the old building was loads of rubble and wood.

"People dump their stuff here," Trinity explained quietly as she started cautiously down the stairs. "Be very careful for sharp objects and rotted stairs. Follow me." Chase edged down the steps, testing them with her weight before allowing each to support her. To try and sidetrack her nerves, she glanced at Ari behind her.

"Why do you call yourself three different names?" she asked quietly.

"Amanda is what my parents named me when I was a born," Ari answered, rolling her eyes. "I hate it, so I nicknamed myself Kye."

"Kye has nothing to do with Amanda."

"It's my middle name. When I started hacking, I called myself Ari, because I liked that, too. It's really quite useful to have three identities sometimes. My old school counsellor reckoned I had a full-time identity crisis because I called myself something different everyday."

"Miss this step, it has a hole in it," Trinity said, hopping over it. Chase copied her. Trinity led them down past the rubble and old wood to another door. She turned to them both.

"Remember, don't lie," she said. "Morpheus knows practically everything. Good luck in your decisions. I only hope you make the right one." Without waiting for an answer, she unlocked the door and directed them inside.

Chase silently followed Ari into the dusty, dimly lit room. There were only four pieces of furniture in the room – an antique sofa, a matching single lounge chair, and two small tables. A tall, bald, dark-skinned man stood from the single chair, his long black cloak making a swishing noise. Trinity closed the door behind them as she entered.

"Good afternoon," the man said, smiling broadly. Trinity silently walked past the girls to stand at the man's side, giving him a respectful look.

"Uh, hello," Ari said awkwardly. Chase quickly echoed her. What else were they supposed to say?

"I am pleased to meet you, Ari," the man said, nodding at Chase's new friend with surprising respect. He obviously didn't see them as any less significant just because they were kids. "And Chase, too, of course. You two have no idea how difficult you are to find. But at last, we meet. I am Morpheus."

Chase glanced nervously at Ari. There was no going back now.

Trinity shot them both a reassuring look as she turned and left the room the way she had come in. They were alone.

"Please, take a seat, both of you," Morpheus said, indicating the two-seater couch. Chase sank slowly down next to Ari, not trusting herself to speak. This was like a weird, hazy dream, unreal.

"As I said, you two are very difficult to locate. Your knowledge of computing is obviously very good for two people of your young age. It took Trinity many long hours to find you. She arranged to meet you both inside the bushland around your school, but as you unfortunately discovered, an agent of the system found out and hindered the operation. No matter – you are safe for now.

"I was grateful when both of our current subjects enrolled in the same school. That made our jobs a lot easier. I hope that you haven't been too frightened by this ordeal, but I had to speak to you both. I have summoned you here today to offer you a proposal. You have questions burning at your minds."

"And you have the answers?" Ari guessed. Morpheus nodded.

"Tell me, Ari, Chase. What is the question you most want answered?"

"What is the Matrix?" Ari asked immediately.

"What is the Matrix," Chase agreed after a moment. She glanced at Ari again. They both wanted to know.

"The Matrix is _this_," Morpheus said, waving his hands vaguely at the room. "You can feel it now, when you touch these chairs. You can taste it when you go out to dinner with your family. You see it at school, at home, at the shopping centres. You can smell it when you are cooking your meals at home, when you do your gardening. You can hear it on the radio or when you talk on the phone. It is everywhere. You cannot escape it by yourselves. It is nothing but a cage, trapping your minds into it, making you see and feel and hear what it wants you to. But unfortunately," Morpheus continued, "you cannot just be told. You still wouldn't understand, even if I gave you both textbooks on this topic. You have to see it for yourselves to know what the Matrix is. You will not comprehend until your eyes really see it."

There was a long silence. Morpheus indicated the tables either side of their sofa. On each there was a glass of water.

"Now you have your choice," he said, taking a small silver box from his pocket. He tipped the contents into his hands. "I must have you know that I am only offering the truth, and nothing more than that. The most tempting choice may be more risky, but it is your decision. You are both old enough to make your own decisions, are you not?"

Chase again glanced at Ari. She seemed to be doing it a lot now, which was surprising, since they'd only known each other for a few hours.

"I guess so," Ari decided.

"Surely you don't want your parents in on this?" Morpheus asked with a knowing smile.

"No," both girls said immediately. Neither of them wanted their parents to know any of this hacking stuff. If Chase's mum ever discovered that she'd doing this, the close-mother-daughter smile Marilyn and Carrie shared that Chase so wanted to be a part of would be a very distant, very laughable fantasy.

"Usually it is a wise choice to target younger minds," Morpheus continued. Chase listened with a blank expression, not knowing what the hell he was talking about. "Younger people are much more open minded, but now you all get drug education and those don't-accept-candy-from-strangers talks. Well, ignore those for just today." He opened the first hand. Two clear blue capsules. "In one hand, you can choose to wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to. You tell your parents that you caught the wrong bus home. I never contact you again, and you live your lives the way you like. In the other hand," he opened the second hand to reveal two more pills, identical to the blues except that they were red, "I show you more, how deep the rabbit hole goes. I show you the truth and you leave this," he waved his hands around at the room, "behind."

There was a moment of silence. Chase turned to Ari once more, the expression in her eyes saying simply, 'I will if you do'. Ari did nothing but stare back at her with the same look.

Chase studied the four pills offered. Should she choose red or blue?

"What's the worst that can happen?" she asked finally, taking a red pill from Morpheus' open hand.

_Dumb question._

Ari watched her for a moment, then took the other red capsule. Both picked up a glass of water from the tables either side of them, but only Ari placed the pill on her tongue and swallowed mouthfuls of water to get it down her throat. Chase stopped herself and stared at the capsule.

By taking this pill, which could be a dangerous drug for all she knew, what would she lose? She had never realised before exactly how much she took for granted.

Her parents, who considered her strange, but cared for her all the same.

Keira, who was the only other family member that seemed even slightly out of place.

Sadie, who she pretended to dislike but would actually defend with her life.

Her many friends, so many friends, who liked her enough to ignore that she was slightly off kilter.

And Carrie, her twin, who had protected her against the popular bullies in primary school that had figured out that she was different. Carrie, who had swapped desserts with her when they were six and dining at a posh restaurant because Chase (then Sophie) had had seen a flicker of a green number 2 in her chocolate sprinkles. Carrie, who had handed in her own history assignment last year in place of Chase's when Chase had spent her entire night searching the net for a way into a web site promising answers and hadn't a moment that night thought about her assignment.

"Ugh," Ari muttered, putting the glass back and touching in her throat. Chase stared at her.

"Not much to lose, I take it?" she asked. She noticed the thin white scars on her new friend's wrists and wondered what it must be like to have no fear to lose something because there was so little emotional cost. Maybe Ari's home life was messed up, she didn't know. But Chase had so much to live for. She had spent her life looking out for those reasons, remaining a good daughter, sister and friend and pretending not to be different for their benefit. She'd always selflessly pushed her real self into the corners of her mind to protect her relationships.

Ari shrugged and shook her head.

"Chase, if you had my family, you'd be begging for an excuse to take an unknown pill," she said gently.

Maybe it was finally time to stop pretending to be normal, to stop pretending to be Sophie, and to finally do something for Chase, who needed this. She popped the capsule into her mouth.

Amazingly, it had no taste whatsoever.

Morpheus smiled for a moment before he spoke. "Follow me."

He got to his feet and started for the only door in the room, the way they had entered. Chase and Ari followed him through it and into a shadowed area a little further down, where another door was well hidden in the darkness. He pushed it open and showed them inside.

Chase had never seen so much computing equipment that she couldn't identify in one place. Computers, wires, machines, phones and then a whole bunch of stuff she didn't know the names of. It seemed odd that, beside two odd-looking, perhaps dentist-related chairs, was an antique mirror.

Trinity was here, and somehow those two men (Cypher and Apoc?) had turned up, too. There was also a formidable-looking woman with short white blonde hair, and a man with dark blonde hair worn in a careless, casual, longish fashion to his chin, medium-coloured skin and a relaxed, friendly face.

"Time is always against us. It is precious. Please, take a seat," Morpheus said, indicating the chairs. Chase took a seat beside Ari when she sat down. Trinity pressed a button on the machine she had been working with and came over with wires and those white circles that stick to skin and hold the wires there. Without speaking, she attached the wires with the stickers to Ari's forehead, neck, and arms. Nobody in the entire room spoke, in fact, and the only sounds were that of their breathing and the bleeps of the computers. Trinity moved on to Chase, pressing the stickers to her skin to hold the wires.

She left them and went back over to her machine. Apoc glanced up at Morpheus, who gave a small nod, and he tapped a few keys with his fingers. The noise seemed to resound in the quiet room.

Ari gasped softly. Chase spun around in her chair to check on her. Her eyes were practically glued to the mirror – and when Chase also looked at it, she, too, was surprised.

"That's impossible," she said stubbornly. It was. It wasn't normal for mirrors to 'melt' and appear to be nothing more than molten silver managing to defy the laws of gravity by standing vertically without spilling. Morpheus, wrists clasped behind his back, wandered toward them calmly.

"That kind of attitude won't be of any help when you want to learn about the Matrix," he said simply.

"But it is," Chase argued. "I know it isn't possible. All laws of physics, maths and science prevent this from happening." She pointed at the mirror.

"It's happening, isn't it?" Ari asked. Obviously she didn't have Chase's obsession with physics.

"I thought you were the kind of person who would say, 'rules were made for breaking'?" the blonde woman said to Chase with a smirk.

"I know it isn't possible," Chase repeated, weaker than before. "This is why we have gravity. I _know_."

"You know, do you? Imagine what you'll know by tomorrow." Morpheus shook his head and smiled. "I can't believe you're letting your logic block your curiosity. Go on – I know what you both are dying to do." He nodded at the mirror.

Both girls turned back to the antique mirror.


	6. Chapter Six

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' Notes:

Solia: Okay, people. This is the last chapter of this story. This is the end of Chase and Ari's adventures as year ten Australian schoolgirls. After this, there might be a few orientation chapters (to let you know what's happening in the years between this story and their next adventure) and then we'll post the real story (this was a prelude, remember) as chapters of this.

I never really made this clear – this story takes place three years, six months before the first Matrix film, so that's four years before Reloaded and Revolutions. The next adventure takes place exactly three years after this.

And by the way – thanks to everyone who's ever read and reviewed this. (Wipes tear from eye.) It's truly inspired me... No, really, this was the first story I ever finished to my liking. Since then, I've finished a whole heap more.

This story was dedicated to Delerith's and my year nine English teacher, Mr B. During many English classes, and also during an entire substitute lesson of German, we argued with him about the Matrix – is it a good thing or a bad thing? He insists to this day that it's good, because it makes a great substitute reality. But the point of this fiction was to prove him otherwise. Delerith and I set out to prove him wrong. And okay, maybe this story doesn't exactly prove anything, but it does support the moral at the bottom of this page.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter six

Ari looked one last time at Chase, then turned firmly toward the mirror. She was dying to touch the surface of the mirror. When she reached out, Chase didn't stop her. The glass wasn't glass any more – it was more like liquid silver. She dipped her fingers into it. It was very cold, and soft and gooey. Ari, amazed more than scared, pulled her hand free, and when the mirror finally broke apart, it bounced back into shape and left a small amount of the quicksilver stuff on her hand. Which spread slowly up her wrist and all over her hand...

"I'm dreaming," Chase said in disbelief, staring at Ari's hand. "I fell asleep at school, maybe serving my detention."

"If you had a dream, a dream so real that you were convinced that it was really happening, what difference is there to the waking world?" Morpheus asked calmly. "Is there a difference? Would you know it? And what if you were born into that dream, never having been truly awake? What if your entire life was a dream? How would you wake to see whether there was a difference? Would you _want_ to wake?"

Chase silently touched Ari's silvered hand. The stuff spread onto her, but she didn't look panicked. Just interested.

Then it started moving faster, on both of them. Covering their skin, headed for their faces.

"It's freezing!" Ari murmured, unconsciously tilting her head away from the ever-spreading mirror-turned-quicksilver. Chase suddenly seemed to realise exactly what was happening, and tried to rub it off. This just allowed the silver to get onto her other hand. Without thinking, she brushed a strand of her chocolate brown hair from her face – big mistake. The silvery stuff started spreading from there.

"Almost locked," somebody called. The people in the room seemed distant to Ari. All she could think of was preventing the silver from reaching her face. It crept up her neck...

"Tank, how are we going?" Morpheus' voice. What was going on? Why was no one helping Ari and Chase?

Ari felt the silver, once a harmless mirror, slip over her jawbone. Within a second it was at her lips.

She screamed. A second scream (Chase?) joined it, and then the offending silver stuff entered her mouth...

Blackness... She was dead. What other explanation for this second of darkness was there?

Then everything became a blurred, pinkish red. The sound of a loud heartbeat filled Ari's ears. She felt weird – all of her senses felt weird, scattered.

She got many realisations at once. She couldn't breathe. There was something in her mouth and throat. Her body felt weak. That heartbeat was her own. She was inside a large glassy pod of some sort, surrounded by a gooey, pink liquid. She was completely naked, alone and trapped.

Terrified, she struggled to sit up. Her hands touched a layer of gooey membrane, which she pushed through. Her sore, blurry eyes blurred further as she almost lost consciousness from suffocation. Ari grabbed the mask from over her mouth and nose and pulled it off. She felt the sickening feeling as a tube in her throat slipped out of her mouth. She dropped the mask and retched. There was nothing in her stomach to throw up. She breathed heavily and gratefully.

She tried to adjust her eyes. It was darkish.

As she had expected, she was naked, her skin ghostly pale, and wet, covered in that smelly, gooey liquid. But the oddest thing – there was black pipes attached to her skin, on her arms, just below her collarbone, etc.

No, that wasn't the oddest thing, not at all. Not after Ari had looked around and seen the most unbelievable sight of them all.

Dozens of gigantic cylindric black pillars, a hundred or more metres in width, with little red 'buds' on them in straight lines. No, not buds – little pods like her own.

Ari glanced either side of her and saw more glassy pods containing the pink liquid, black pipes and unconscious people lying uniformly on their backs. She was sitting in a pod of pink fluid that was also attached to one of those pillars.

Chase – where was Chase?

"Chase?" she croaked. Her voice was weak and croaky all of a sudden.

Only one and a half minutes ago Chase had been sitting right beside Ari, but now Ari was in a completely different place. What had that silver stuff done to them? Where had Morpheus and Trinity and their friends gotten to?

Where was Ari herself?

Suddenly there was a strange buzzing noise as a machine approached. Ari couldn't see where it was, but she looked around still. She was careful – she was perhaps kilometres from the ground, judging by the fact that the most distant thing she could see when she looked over the edge of the pod was mist, and didn't want to fall.

Again, she noticed something strange. The buzzing noise was getting closer, but for the moment she ignored it. Aside from the presence of the liquid, the weight on her head felt distorted and different.

_Must be the wet stuff in my hair_, she thought, reaching up a hand to touch her hair and to judge how hard it would be to get the fluid out of it but not her dye. To her shock, her fingers didn't touch any hair – only her bald, wet scalp. With a noise of disbelief, she ran her hands over her hairless head. Her hair was gone completely! It was worse than if the mahogany dye were to wash out – now it wasn't even black, just gone!

Ari was just thinking that it would be typical if her earrings had been lost in the unconscious journey to get here (how else could she have gotten here so quickly?) when she lowered one hand to her ears and discovered that they weren't even _pierced_!

The other hand ran behind her head and touched something as weird and unreal as anything else she had seen over the past few minutes: a metal outlet from the back of her skull. A thick pipe protruding from her head like a metal ponytail. No way was this possible.

A spider-like, beach-ball-sized machine rose up into view. For a moment, Ari stared at it. This so wasn't happening. It was a dream. Maybe it understood English?

"Can you help me?" she asked. Her voice sounded surprisingly forced and soft, and it felt difficult.

The machine thing all but ignored her question. It suddenly expanded, stretching its long metallic legs out around her and grabbing that outlet behind her head. While she struggled against the uncomfortable hold, it inspected her closely with its glassy black vision things.

After a few seconds, it did something, because the thing attached to her head, which must be deep inside her head, started twisting as though it was unscrewing it. She tried to cry out, but no one could hear her. When the plug came free from her head, the spider thing released her and backed away. Ari weakly righted herself in the pod of liquid, in which she didn't want to drown. She felt a sharp pain as the pipes all over body burst free, and she grabbed the edge of the pod to keep herself out of the watery stuff. There was a sucking sound behind her, near where her head had been before, and the liquid inside the pod got sucked out the hole that had opened up. Ari meant to stand up and find a way out of here, but she slipped on the slippery bottom of the pod and fell through the hole with a gasping cry.

For almost a minute, she slid down what seemed to be a dark tunnel slide at breakneck speed, her thoughts coming to her in scattered, confused pieces. Suddenly, when she supposed that she had gone further than the distance from her pod to the ground, the tunnel was gone, and she was falling freely. She splashed into water a few metres below.

Now, Ari had taken swimming lessons and knew perfectly well how to keep herself afloat in water, but faced with this challenge, she found that she was too weak to swim properly.

There was a loud noise above her, spotlights searching for her position in the darkness, and then a block of light opened up – a door of some sort. A mechanic claw was quickly lowered to her and clamped about her weak body, pulling her out of the water.

As Ari was lifted into the light, she heard a soft scream and a splash as someone else fell into the water. She didn't give it a lot of thought. She was lifted into a metallic room and gently lowered onto a cold steel floor. The claw let her go. Someone draped a warm, rough blanket around her and helped her to her feet.

Ari tried to focus her blurry, tired eyes on the faces of those around her. A woman with dark hair was standing in front of her, and someone else was helping her stand. People were talking about something, and the noise of the claw was still going.

"What's... what's happening?" Ari managed to ask, blinking. No one answered. The woman moved away, and someone else came over.

"Welcome to the real world, Ari," Morpheus said. Ari nodded vaguely, not comprehending but choosing to remain polite at least. The person supporting her started to lead her away. She could still hear the voices behind her, discussing something, and, as the man helped her through a door, she heard the claw's noises stop. It had done its purpose.

"Who're you?" Ari asked thickly, hoping that she didn't fall asleep while she was still walking. She had to keep herself occupied for now.

"Dais," the man answered. "I work for Morpheus."

"Oh." Ari couldn't think of anything else to ask as Dais helped her into another room and onto a hospital bunk. She lay down and fell asleep almost instantly.

When she woke up hours later, she rolled over, keeping the blanket covering her body. On another hospital bed lay another pale-skinned girl her own age, also without hair, black plugs on her skin, her dark eyes staring at the roof.

It was Chase, believe it or not.

"Chase!" Ari said, pleased to see a familiar face. The girl turned her head.

"You too?" she asked, definitely Chase, although she sounded softer. "At least I'm not alone."

"Do you know what happened to us? After the silver stuff? And where are we? How did I end up in that pod?"

"I don't know any more than you do, Ari," Chase answered with a sigh. "I guess we can ask Trinity or Morpheus if we see them again."

"I thought I was dead," Ari admitted a moment later.

"Me, too," Chase agreed. "I was wondering if my family would ever know what had happened to me." She hesitated. "Ari, where do you think we are? Do you think I'll... see my sisters again?"

"I don't know," Ari answered honestly. Silence.

"Ari?"

"Mm?"

"Do you think my hair will grow back? And yours?"

"It had better." Another lapse of silence. "Chase? Do you think that maybe you were right? That maybe I fell asleep when I was doing my detention this afternoon?"

"If you did, that would be weird, because I must be dreaming, too," Chase answered thoughtfully. "I mean, this can't be real, can it?"

"I guess not," Ari agreed. She paused. There was only one way to check. She lifted her head from the bed, surprised by the effort it took, and reached a trembling hand behind it.

The plug wouldn't be there.

Her fingertips touched the steely cold metal plug in the back of her skull, and, feeling ill, she realised that this was all too real.

"We aren't sleeping, are we?" Chase murmured.

"No, we aren't." Ari brought her hands back in front of her face. She was surprised to notice that her suicide scars were gone, as though those entire episodes had been wiped clean out of her life. Out of who she was.

"You want to know something good?"

"Okay. What?" Ari was willing for any good news.

"If we're here in this freakish place, then we can't be at school in a few hours, can we?"

"I guess not. Why is that so wonderful? My new timetable said that I have computer technology class first up tomorrow," Ari countered.

"Exactly," Chase said, smiling and looking up at the ceiling again. "That means we won't have to sit through an entire lesson of listening to Mr Abbreviations-are-evil-Barry. Don't know about you, but I like that idea."

"Did you get any homework for tonight?" Ari asked, studying the dents in the metal roof.

"Yes, I did. For maths. I was hoping to come up with a good excuse by tomorrow, though, because I didn't feel like doing it."

"Well, Chase, we've found our excuse," Ari smirked, closing her eyes. "We were picked up by the side of the road by hacker terrorists, driven through dangerous traffic, shot at, taken to Morpheus, given some alien pills, covered in melted mirror, then we woke up in a completely different place in gooey pods. Then we got sucked down a tunnel and got picked up by a claw from the pool at the bottom. See? Perfectly valid excuse."

"The perfect homework excuse," Chase agreed. "It's even better than the dog ate it."

The moral of the story: The Matrix is bad because it contains single-sex schools.


	7. Chapter Seven

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' Notes:

Solia: Chase and Ari are free, and this is their first day in Zion. As you would know after reading the previous chapter, the girls were freed simultaneously – in the same operation. Upon arriving in Zion they learn that no two people have ever survived such a difficult process and that the faithful people of the city are treating Chase and Ari's release from the Matrix as a sign that the One is coming.

Lady Delerith: Hey all, this is our new chapter, I hope you think it's good. Oh and, nomen nihil, if you read this, I hope don't expect us to forgive you for all that shit by that pitiful little apology.

Oh, a little self promotion here, my friend and I, not Solia, another friend, have been writing a story and I'd like all of you guys to read and tell me what you think of it. ?storyid1795638 Really hope you guys like it. It's a tad bit graphic Enjoy.

Solia: Yeah, what Delerith just said to nomen nihil – I second that.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter Seven

ZION: Part one

"I can't believe they're just going to leave us here."

Chase nodded in agreement with Ari's comment. It had been two months since they had been freed from the Matrix and the reality was settling in, but now their primary rehabilitation and training was finished and they were being left in the cavernous underground city of Zion.

In the past two months she had slowly felt her body rebuilding its strength. She had monitored closely the regrowth of her dark brown hair, which, to Ari's annoyance, was growing at a pleasing rate. She was eating the tasteless gooey grey stuff that everyone else ate on hovercrafts and understanding the answers to the many questions she asked.

Chase could now comprehend that her entire life had been lived in her head, in cyberspace, basically, a thing called the Matrix, and that her energy had been used as a battery for an evil race of machines that had taken over the world, wiping the humans from the face of the planet and driving them into caves near the core of the Earth.

She could only imagine how Carrie would laugh if she were to say that to her twin.

She missed Carrie. She wondered how her sisters and parents and friends had reacted when she hadn't come home that night. She wondered what her school would do. She even wondered what had become of her schoolbag, which she had left in the car she'd been picked up in. What if police found that, showered in the glass of the broken window?

Now, she and Ari, her new best friend, the only person sharing her situation, stood in the doorway of a cave-and-steel apartment which housed four single, threadbare sheeted beds, a table with four chairs, a storage cupboard and a door which they had to suppose led to a bathroom. There was no one else inside but the place showed signs of being lived in by someone.

Coming from the lives they'd had in the Matrix, this was so far from luxury it wasn't funny. But it was warmer here than on the _Nebuchadnezzar_, the hovercraft (another thing Chase was starting to comprehend) Morpheus owned. Plus, this was the real world, and as real as it got, and ever since being freed, Chase had felt mentally better, no longer plagued by those inconsistencies and little glitches, which she'd recently found out were small gaps, or glitches, in the Matrix system.

It was amazing, this Matrix thing. So beautiful, the way maths, computers and science had been twisted together like this. It was incredibly interesting, although, to Chase, evil. Because it existed, she'd lost her entire life and she'd never see her sisters again.

Ari, on the other hand, didn't really think about the logical, artistic evil of the Matrix. She just liked it here and thought that everyone in the Matrix deserved to be free of their problems, like she was now. Chase was glad to note that Ari's suicide scars were gone from her wrists.

"I guess this is… home," Chase said finally, afraid to step inside. She felt like she needed a security blanket, or a soft toy to cuddle before she did so. Or a twin. Like that time when her parents had sent her and Carrie to a summer camp when they were eight. No one they knew was going, but their parents sent them anyway. Chase could still remember standing at the door of their cabin, terrified of the unknown, other kids behind the closed door. She hadn't been brave enough to go inside until she'd taken Carrie's hand, and they'd stepped inside together.

That had been the worst camp ever, and three out of the four cabin mates were completely horrible, but just having her twin with her had given Chase, then Sophie, the courage to step inside.

As Chase wrapped her arms around herself, Ari waltzed straight on inside without hesitation. She looked so different from the way Chase had met her, with her mahogany purple hair and impeccable school uniform. Now her short, short spiky hair was black (her natural colour) and she was wearing a light grey tunic over a dark one (for warmth). She had dark grey trousers and boots.

Chase's attire was similar; grey trousers, boots, ginger-brown undershirt and a maroon tunic. They had woken one morning on the _Nebuchadnezzar_ and found the clothes supplied at the end of one of the beds.

"I think someone lives here," Chase said nervously. She took a deep breath and took one step inside. It was warm and well lived-in, but tidy for a cave.

"Of course someone lives here," Trinity said as she arrived. The girls turned to look at her. She'd been so great to them, such a friend. She seemed to like looking after them. Morpheus had said to them on a few occasions that it was strange for Trinity to be so nice to newcomers, although every now and then someone would be freed that she would simply take a liking to. According to the captain, those people usually turned out to be of great importance to the Resistance (the rebellion against the machines).

"How do you know?" Ari asked, looking around.

"Because these cabins are always used to house numerous people, usually new kids," Trinity answered. "The idea is to save space and to create bonds, like flatmates."

"Chasey, we have flatmates," Ari said brightly. Chase nodded, looking around cautiously. Already, Ari was coming up with nicknames for her. Not that she minded.

"Listen, you two settle in, okay? I have to go to Morpheus – he's signing your release forms."

"But what if we need something?" Chase asked worriedly. "What if we can't find the cafeteria? I mean, the food place?"

"Everyone here, in this city, will be willing to help you if you get lost, I promise," Trinity said. She smiled. "Your flatmates should turn up soon. The council has told them that you've arrived so they shouldn't be far away. I'll make sure I see you again before I leave, okay?"

The girls nodded, and she left.

"Great," Chase muttered to the silence.

"It won't be that bad."

"We're stuck in a cave."

"Yeah. But we'll make friends." Ari was trying to be optimistic.

The door opened and a girl of about twelve or thirteen entered. She was pretty, with perfect blonde ringlets for hair, short like a two-year-olds, and a freckly nose. She was about Ari's height or taller.

"Hi, I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner," the girl said. She looked sweet. "I'm Teardrop. I live here."

"I'm Ari," Chase's best friend said with a small smile. Teardrop said hello, then turned to Chase, who hugged herself tighter.

"My name's Chase," she answered.

"The whole city is talking about you two," Teardrop said, dropping down on the bed in the corner. The other three were spaced along the wall from there. "Talking about how you two were freed at the same time or something. My friends were talking about it – I told them they were crazy. It's impossible."

"No, it's not," Ari said immediately. "Morpheus managed it with us."

Teardrop's eyes widened.

"For real?" she asked excitedly. "At exactly the same time?"

"Yeah," Chase said, feeling uncomfortable.

"So you two are like, twins. Mind twins."

"Huh?" Ari asked.

"When you're freed, it's like you're being born again," Teardrop said. "I count it as a birthday. I'm two, if that be the case." She was so mature for a littler girl. "But you two were born at the same time. That's so cool. No one else has ever achieved it. Usually one dies in the process."

"I guess… that we're just lucky, then," Chase said carefully. "I really don't understand why you're so excited. We had nothing to do with it."

"Maybe both of you _had_ to live, as though you have a special fate," Teardrop continued speculating.

"If you say so," Ari said, shrugging carelessly.

"I can't wait to tell my friends – they'll be so jealous," Teardrop said, her big blue eyes bright. "I'm sharing a room with the Twins. You have to meet Ricka – she was my old roommate, until a few weeks ago, when she moved out because she got married."

"How old do you have to be to get married here?" Chase asked, shocked. In the Matrix, underage marriages were highly uncommon, not to mention highly illegal in most places. Surely that would be carried on into the real world?

"She was twenty-one. I don't know the marriage laws – sixteen, I think. Anyway, she's really nice. She's a medic – that's what I want to be."

"A doctor?" At one point in her life, Chase had also aspired to this career track. At fourteen, she hadn't been sure. Now she had no idea.

"Yeah," Teardrop said. She had an American accent. Most people in the real world sounded American. They only Aussie here apart from Chase was Ari. "So. Do you want me to show you around?"

After Chase and Ari had picked out a bed each (Ari the second, Chase the third) Teardrop ushered them from the apartment and began the tour of the city.

"It's so big," Chase said, not for the first time, as she leaned over a railing a few storeys up.

"It's hard to believe sometimes, isn't it?" Teardrop agreed. "All made by people?"

Teardrop spent the next hour showing them different places and different ways to get to those places, but everywhere they went, people stared and whispered.

"Will it always be like this?" Ari asked in a low voice. "Do they stare at every new person?"

"No, just you two," Teardrop answered quietly as they stepped inside an elevator. "I don't think you realize how much of a miracle you really are. Two people freed at once, in the same operation… It just hadn't been done before. Nothing special has happened in years – Zion is starting to lose faith that anything good will ever happen. Until now."

"Until us," Chase said softly. A month ago she'd been shopping with her mother and sisters for her new schoolbooks, trying to get everything organized before the Christmas/summer holidays ended. Now a thirteen-year-old girl with perfect hair was telling her that she and Ari were the new faces of hope for a civilization of people they hadn't even known existed.

"What are they waiting for?" Ari asked. Chase didn't understand, but Teardrop seemed to.

"The One," she said simply. "Inside the Matrix there is a woman called the Oracle. She foretells the future and gives advice. She guided a man, more than a hundred years ago, as he freed the first people from the Matrix and began building Zion. After his death she prophesised his reincarnation as an all-powerful anomaly in the Matrix. So whenever something weird happens, like two teenage girls who somehow survive simultaneous release from the Matrix, the people of Zion seem to count it as a sign that the One is coming."

"So now we're omens, Chase," Ari said as the elevator doors opened. "High-school students no more… Omens."

"The Oracle prophesised the coming of twelve extraordinary people from the Matrix to proceed the coming of the One," Tear explained. "A ninth one was released about two years ago, a week or so after me. He seemed nice. Apparently he's really talented inside training programs and stuff." She smiled thoughtfully as she sidestepped a solitary observer. "Actually, I think he might have been Australian, too. In the Matrix, that is. Usually they target Americans as potential escapees. I guess there are a lot of wack jobs where I'm from."

"Are there many Aussies here?" Chase asked.

"No. Most Matrix-escapees are American. Or were, in the Matrix. I don't think I've met many other Australian escapees. You two and that guy…"

"Maybe our country just produces extra-special people," Ari said, and Tear grinned at her.

Teardrop took them now to the eatery. Some people ate at their homes, she said, but the eatery was more for lonely newcomers without families. Chase noticed that nearly everybody here, sitting at the long metal tables, had a steel plug in the back of their skull. Teardrop led them to the cafeteria at the end of the huge room. A few people stared. Chase tried to avoid meeting their eyes, but once she looked up. Her gaze was locked into contact with that of a tall, cute boy of about her age with hazel eyes. He had been laughing at something a companion said, but now he smiled. His hair was dark, and he had a tan complexion, like most native Zioners. But as he slowly raised a hand to run it through his hair, Chase noticed a black plug in his wrist. He was a Matrix-born, like her.

Chase forced a return smile, but was self-consciously running her fingers over the black plug in her own wrist. They were a part of her body now, like the silver plug in her head. Did Zion-born people consider that unattractive? Was there any 'racial' tension in this city between Matrix-born and Zion-born people? In the Matrix, it was disgusting how people treated those of different colour. As far as Chase was concerned, people were people and there should be no discrimination between colour or race. But here, although colour didn't seem to matter, there were no longer just people. Here there were people who were born and had families, and there were people who were little more than genetic creations, ex-batteries.

A tray was pressed into her hands, and Chase snapped back into reality. Even outside of the Matrix she was still prone to drifting off into her own thoughts.

"Thanks," she said immediately. The woman who had served her ignored her – she'd already moved on to the next person in line. Chase followed Ari and Teardrop to a space at one of the long tables.

This food wasn't gunky and gooey like the hovercraft food. It was made up of what appeared to be a mixture of synthetic fruits and natural fibres. It tasted better, too.

"So, what do you think of Zion so far?" Teardrop asked in between mouthfuls. Chase swallowed.

"Okay, I guess," she said. Ari started looking around.

"Any hot guys here?" she asked hopefully, craning her neck and sitting straighter. Chase remembered the boy with the pretty hazel eyes. She turned to find him.

"There was one over-" she began, but he was gone.

"Where?" Ari queried, leaning closer to Chase to try and see all in her line of vision.

"Nowhere. He's gone," Chase said, turning back to her meal. She wished now that she had approached the boy – who knew how long it would be before she saw him again?


	8. Chapter Eight

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' Notes:

Solia: Anyone who knows me will note in this chapter how much Chase really is like me. Her fear of causing scenes, her fear of bad hair and her dislike of arguments all relate to the real me. Although, you probably got a better idea of Chase in the previous chapter, and will again in chapter nine.

To all Ari fans (including Lady Delerith, who personalised her Christmas card to me by putting "Ari is better!" on the inside cover) I apologise for the lack of previous insight into Ari's personality. Up until here there's been little information on her, and even I've noticed that the Chase chapters are distinctly deeper and more descriptive. I think I do it because Chase is my character, and is based on myself, so it's easier for me to describe her. This year at school I'm going to take notes on Lady Delerith's every move so I can make Ari chapters more personal.

And to those loyal readers, who review all the time (and to everyone else) – are you Ari fans or Chase fans? Where do you want to see these two end up? There are a few ideas floating around between Lady Delerith and I (we've pretty much decided all that happens between now and Matrix Revolutions) but for after that, we'd like to hear your opinions.

Lady Delerith: I would like to thank Cerrita, the current no.1 Ari fan. You rock, dude. And I still want people to read this: ?storyid1795638Because it's cool.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter Eight

ZION: Part two

"There she is! Show no mercy!"

The shout echoed throughout the underground car park, bouncing off the cement walls, posts, floor and ceiling. Ari braced herself, taking a deep breath and rearranging the strong, perfect placement of her combat-booted feet. She flexed her fingers, tight about her two remaining pistols. Two rounds waited in her belt for when the guns she held ran out.

This was Ari's favourite stance – feet braced shoulder-width apart, arms relaxed with her guns at her side. She would probably look just that little bit cooler if there were some sort of breeze to flutter her shoulder-length black ringlets.

Oh, well.

The SWAT team burst into the car part from the elevator, sniper rifles raised and ready to bring her down. They would show no mercy – well, neither would Ari.

She raised her arms and brought the guns up to eye level, narrowed her eyes and squeezed the triggers with both hands. She had killed two men before they got the chance to begin firing at her, and by that point, she had ducked behind a cement support post.

They kept firing. One bullet hit a nearby car (which was a pity, because it was a nice car) and set off a bright spark. Ari blinked. She had to learn not to blink. She took a deep breath and leaned around the corner to continue firing. Thankfully, her hair didn't fall into her face or block her vision in any way. That was good, because she had a bit of a hard time seeing anyway with the semi-darkness and the sparks, and of course the fact that she narrowed her eyes whilst firing to avoid incessant blinking.

A few more screams and cries of pain let Ari know that she was doing well. But she couldn't hang around forever. The idea was to kill them all and take the elevator up to ground level. How many left? Eight? Nine?

She jumped back behind her post just in time to save herself from the bullet that had been speeding for her head. Damn – another near miss. That would set her back a few points. Annoyed, Ari turned so that she was facing the support post. Ignoring the enemy bullets, she carefully leaned around so that she could count them. Eight remaining. She moved behind the post again to protect her face and body, then, remembering where those men were, jumped out and squeezed off the remainder of the loaded bullets into the SWAT members. Then she turned and bolted.

There was a big jeep coming up that she could use to hide behind, but she was going to get hit before she got there. So she abruptly swerved in between the other parked cars, hearing the rapid-fired bullets tailing her, tracing dotted lines on the metallic paint of the cars. She leaped onto the bonnet of a green Subaru, ran across the roof of it and rolled down the back, landing on her hands and bouncing herself immediately back onto her feet. She had to get to that jeep – it was the hardiest car here and the safest cover. She couldn't reload until she got there.

Almost there… one last dodge behind this grey Honda… At last Ari rolled behind the jeep, safe for now. Panting a little, she ejected the empty rounds and reloaded both pistols. She glanced underneath the jeep, behind the wheel. Five pairs of legs, pounding towards her. She took aim and fired at one leg, the one that looked closest. There was a cry, and a man fell heavily to the cement. Ari finished him off with a few bullets to his forehead.

Four left. Ari stood, turning to face them, and fired repeatedly into their armour-plated chests. It took only a few seconds to get them all to the floor. Two were still alive. There was no point in wasting bullets on them. They were harmless now.

Ari ran to the elevator. She had just hit the faulty "up" button when her surroundings began to drop away into nothingness. The simulation was over. For a moment there was just white, the Construct, and then she was opening her eyes to the brightly lit training unit, where she came every three days to take part in a training program for young Matrix escapees with aspirations of working on board a hovercraft.

"Why didn't you kill the remaining SWAT?"

Damn – Dasne, Ari's teacher and examiner. She always found problems in Ari's simulations.

"Because they no longer posed a threat to me or anyone else and I thought it best to save my bullets," Ari replied. Dasne removed the head jack from the metal inlet in Ari's head. At first it had seemed really weird to feel that metal spike slipping into or out of a hole in the back of her head, but after four months of the training, it was less freaky.

"You know that the simulation ends in the elevator. Why would you need bullets after that?" Dasne drilled. Ari sat up with a sigh.

"Because in a real operation the threat doesn't always end when it's supposed to," she said dully. Why couldn't Dasne just trust her judgement for once? "If I was really in the Matrix, I would have reached ground level and, knowing my luck, there would have been fifty more SWAT there waiting for me. And what good do two empty guns do against fifty SWAT?"

Dasne sat back in her chair, silently considering Ari's answer. She spun her swivel chair around to face her computer and typed in a comment.

Sometimes Ari wondered what Dasne's problem with her was. She always had to come up with something wrong with Ari's performance. She always seemed to be _looking_ for something wrong.

Was it because she didn't like Ari's punky, full-on attitude? Did she honestly believe that Ari simply was completely useless when it came to this? Because Ari didn't, and her test results from other examiners set her as one of the top three in the program. Was it something dumb, like, Dasne didn't like girls with dark hair because her childhood bully was dark-haired?

Or did she actually hate everybody with plugs because her own head plug had been damaged in an accident five years ago, rendering her incapable of ever entering the Matrix or having the head jack inserted into her skull for training programs again?

"Well, I'm off," Ari said, getting to her feet.

"I'll send the results to your file," Dasne said without even glancing at her. Rolling her eyes privately, Ari turned and walked away. Standing in the archway, leaning against the frame, was Chase.

"I'm never going to get a job. My examiner hates me," Ari muttered once she got close enough. Chase straightened and followed her out of the chamber.

"She's like that with everybody. Even me," Chase assured her. "Besides, who cares? Everyone knows that Dasne has a problem with people with a foreseeable future. It's just the way she is."

"I've never seen her with anyone else. To me, she's just my evil examiner."

Chase laughed once, lightly, watching her feet as they walked side-by-side away from the training chamber. She was taking part in the program, too. There were quite a few different occupations a person could take up here in Zion. They could take medical training and become a medic or nurse. They could become mechanics or builders. They could become cooks or they could grow food. They could join the military forces. They could work in the politics of the city.

But both Ari and Chase were in involved in a training program that would eventually get them to the standards needed to apply for a job on board a hovercraft as a crewmember. It wasn't really their choice. For the past ten months the city had watched them closely, as though expecting them to each grow wings and start performing miracles. No luck so far. So it had seemed a good idea to join this youth training curriculum, so one day, with adequate training and experience, they might be able to live up to expectations.

Ari heard something vaguely, then realised that Chase had asked her a question.

"Sorry – what?" she asked, snapping herself back to the conversation.

"I asked if you had seen Tear," Chase repeated.

"No. Not since this morning. She's probably at lunch."

Fifteen minutes later the two fifteen-year-olds stepped into the mess hall. Ari had been fifteen since the beginning of May, and Chase since early July (it was now about late October).

They spotted still-thirteen Teardrop sitting alone at a table, muttering something medical to herself.

"Did you know that talking to yourself is meant to be the first sign of craziness?" Chase asked as she sat down to Tear's right.

"Looking for hairs on your palm is the second sign," Ari added, plonking onto the bench on Tear's other side. Tear looked up, then examined her soft pale palms.

"But there are no hairs on your palms," she said, and Ari laughed.

"It's a joke," she said. "Maybe you were a little young for that one."

Someone dropped down in front of Ari. She looked up. A girl of about sixteen or seventeen was sitting in front of her. She had wild, out-of-control, frizzy mousy-brown hair and a hook-like nose. She was heavy-set and bulky. She had plugs on her bare, built arms.

"I just went down to the docks to see Captain Glyph," the girl began hostilely, "to see if the position I wanted on his ship was still free. I've been after that job for years – working hard to make sure I'm the perfect candidate for the day when Dynasty retires. Glyph knows how much I wanted that job. But when I saw him not half an hour ago, do you know what he said to me?"

Ari didn't answer. She had no idea who this girl was or what she was talking about. She just stared at her in bewildered silence along with Chase and Teardrop.

"He told me that the position had already been filled," the girl continued, glaring right at Chase. "I was disappointed, but I knew that another job would open up sooner or later. I asked about that, and can you take a wild guess as to what he said? No?" The girl smacked her hands down onto the table. "He said that when a position next becomes available onboard his ship, he's already put in a notice of preference for two girls called Chase and Ari. And look who just happens to be sitting right in front of me."

Chase said nothing – she hated confrontations – but Ari was annoyed. Who did this girl think she was?

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Glorious," the girl snapped. She had a New York accent. "Not that it has anything to do with you."

"And what makes you think you can just walk up to us and speak to us like that?" Ari asked hotly, indicating her friends. Apart from Chase and Tear, Ari hadn't managed to make any other real friends in the last ten months. Kind of sad, yes, but then again, Ari had never been a very friendly girl.

"Only the fact that the two of you stole my job," Glorious snarled. She was really angry, and pretty scary, but while bad hair might scare Chase, she didn't frighten Ari. She stood, perfectly prepared to punch her if it came to it. Glorious did the same. Chase leaped up and grabbed Ari's arm to restrain her.

"I'm sure it was a mistake," Chase said quickly, trying to defuse the tension. A few people were watching, and Chase hated causing a scene. "We can't even start working on a ship for another two years."

"They don't even know any Captain Glyph-" Teardrop said, trying to defend Chase and Ari, but Glorious shot her down.

"Don't give me that shit, Barbie," Glorious snapped. "Stupid blonde."

"Hey," Chase said, releasing Ari's arm. "Leave her alone. She hasn't done anything to you. And neither have we."

"So find somewhere else to be," Ari said angrily. She flexed her fingers. Glorious noticed.

"Gonna hit me, are you?" she taunted.

"I thought I'd do you a favour and reshape your nose."

"Ari," Chase warned.

"What? Favours are nice."

"What kind of names are Chase and Ari, anyway?" Glorious continued, and by now it was evident that she was only trying to piss them off. "Chase? Sounds plastic. I suppose you're the Little Miss Perfect? Teacher's pet? Goody-two-shoes? Figures – probably the only reason Glyph has you in preference."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Ari said furiously.

"Look, I'm sorry about the job, but I don't have to sit around and be insulted for being chosen over you," Chase said coolly. She took Ari and Tear's wrists and pulled them both away.

"Running off to the teachers now, teacher's pet?" Glorious asked loudly. Chase rolled her eyes and ignored her. Ari admired her patience.

Glorious walked around the table as the other three walked away.

"And what about you, Ari? What's your name meant to represent?"

Ari wrenched her wrist away from Chase's hand and turned back to Glorious. She was just about to snap out a scathing comment, but someone else, an unfamiliar voice, spoke instead.

"But what about you? What's _your_ name? Sorry, I missed the start of the argument."

Ari noticed a curvy, hairless girl of Glorious's age and height with honey-coloured skin standing nearby. She held a tray in her hands. The girl was plain-featured with round brown eyes and the air of a strong, full-on person.

"Why?" Glorious asked.

"I'm asking," the other girl replied simply.

"Glorious."

The new girl laughed.

"Glorious?" she asked. She walked over and placed her tray on the table near Glorious. "Who told you that you were glorious? Oh, sorry, that's your name? Not too self-absorbed, are we? Can you walk out the door with a head your size? You'd better be able to."

Glorious stared at her, dumbfounded. Someone giggled.

"Don't speak to me, Baldy," she snapped. The new girl smiled as she sat down.

"I don't mind being bald," she said sweetly. She sounded English. "I'm safe with the assurance that when my hair does grow back, it won't look like yours." She motioned to Ari, Chase and Teardrop to come back over to her. "Now unless you want me and (Ari, isn't it?) to make good on her generous offer of fixing that disaster of a nose of yours, piss off."

A few of the people watching sniggered, and, boiling red, Glorious stormed away. Ari, Chase and Tear sat down again. The girl took a bite of her food, swallowed, and then offered her hand to Ari.

"Cinnamon Brown," the girl said by way of introduction. Ari smiled and shook her hand.

"I'm Ari," she answered warmly. Was this girl her long-lost sister, or what? "Thanks for helping us out."

"Not good for my first day, I suppose," Cinnamon said sheepishly. "I can't stand chicks like her. Oh, well – you three can be my first friends. I still haven't met my roommates. They weren't home."

"You just arrived today?" Teardrop asked. She cringed. "Damn – I was meant to stay home today. We're getting a new roommate."

"It's probably me," Cinnamon said. "That'll be cool. We can all band together against that Glorious chick."

Ari hoped Cinnamon turned out to be their new flatmate. Chase and Teardrop introduced themselves, but Ari was hardly listening. She now had three friends, one serious enemy, and, apparently, an admirer in this Captain Glyph guy.

Unlike Chase (well, Sophie, to be more correct), she had never been a social butterfly with fifty million friends. And in this huge, lonely city, where people (like Glorious) saw her as a threat rather than a potential friend, it looked like she had found her little band of allies.


	9. Chapter Nine

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes:

Solia: Sorry for anyone waiting but since I received no reviews I had to assume no one cared anyway so I took my time in getting this chapter published. Actually, I've been helping Delerith plan chapters 12 and 13, which will be the first chapters in this story written by her. They're simultaneous fight sequences and they're going to be so cool.

The two chapters previous to this were just fillers to introduce you to Chase and Ari's new friends, who will be among their allies for the rest of the tale, and to Ari's enemy, Glorious. If you find any new characters particularly annoying, review and let us know now, because Cinnamon, Glorious and Tear will be in the fiction for a very long time.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter nine

Carrie. Mum. Dad. Sadie. Keira. Jasmine. Rayleigh. Anne. Linda. Caroline. Jennifer. Sarah-Jane. Tina. Alyssa. Great friends. Popularity. Respect from both teachers and fellow students. A wealthy life. An expensive school. A beautiful house. A promising future. Great grades. A great education. Great teachers (generally). Sophie.

She, Chase, had had everything a teenage girl could ever want. Leaning over a balcony in the underground city of Zion, staring, depressed, at the surrounding earth and metal, it was hard to recall why she had given it all up. She had literally had everything. She hadn't wanted anything more, and she had known full well what she had. And she'd thrown it all away for this.

It wasn't like in movies, how the beautiful, popular rich girl gives up her riches and great education to be with a boy that she loves. No, nothing like that. Here, in Zion, the only real human city left on the planet, Chase _still_ didn't have a boyfriend.

Two years and ten months had passed since Chase's first day of year ten at SMCAG. Chase was still counting. Ari wasn't. She was glad to be free. But somehow, despite being released from the Matrix, Chase wasn't quite free. In some ways, she had escaped one cage just to become entangled in another trap. In Zion there was absolutely nothing to do. Not like on school holidays when the cinemas are closed, and, even though you have videos and a TV, you tell your parent, "There's nothing to do". There was honestly nothing. No TV. No videos. No cinemas. No shops. No currency, even.

Zion offered Chase no escape from her miserable daydreams and memories of the life she'd given away. She turned from the metal and stone city to the door of the room she shared with her three friends. Instantly, Teardrop, the only one home, was begging Chase to let her practice bandaging on her. With a typical older-sister smile, Chase sat down at the table and held out her wrist for Tear to wrap.

Once the cheerful, friendly, intelligent socialite Sophie Evans, Chase was rattled to realise how insecure she'd become without her friends and family around to support her. She no longer had Carrie, her identical twin, so she'd latched on to Ari, practically adopting her as her new twin sister. She no longer had Sadie, the little sister she would always seek to protect, so here she had Teardrop. And without bossy, energetic older sister Keira, Chase had chosen Cinnamon Brown as her replacement.

How scary. She had become so lost that she'd actually chosen friends that related to her forever-lost-to-her family.

She had finally confided in Ari, wondering if that was true. For once, her friend had been serious, and, while she had rather tactlessly admitted that Chase was a little insecure, she insisted that Chase hadn't chosen her friends. Tear and Cin had just turned up in her life. "Maybe," Ari had said gently, "you're just meant to have us as your friends. We're all practically sisters anyway – so whoever it is that is arranging for us to meet isn't just targeting you. We're _all _friends."

Was it crazy to just assume that Ari was right? Would Chase always pine for what she'd left behind and lost? Would she ever be able to forgive herself for what she had done to her undeserving family? After all, she had just disappeared – after nearly three years, people would have accepted that she and Ari (Amanda "Kye" Saunders) were not coming back. Her parents would have been devastated to lose one of their precious daughters. Keira would have been in shock. Sadie would be lost and emotionally ruined. Carrie… she would have just gone numb. Chase knew she would have if Carrie had been the one to disappear without a trace.

And her friends, Jasmine and Rayleigh in particular? Jasmine had been her friend since forever, once her neighbour. What Chase had done to her family she had done to Jazz. Chase and Rayleigh didn't go back as far. They'd just met in RE on the first day of classes in grade eight and had immediately bonded over their lack of faith in spirituality.

The door of the 'apartment', as Chase had taken to calling their shared room, burst open, and Ari tumbled inside. She was breathing hard, and her face was flushed from running, but she was grinning uncontrollably. Chase looked up, but Tear, who was busily focussed on the bandage she was tying onto her unharmed wrist, didn't bother. Everyone was used to Ari's flamboyant entrances.

"Chase, take that thing off," Ari panted, glancing carelessly at the bandage. Chase stared down at Teardrop's careful work.

"I'm practicing!" Tear said defensively. She was very focussed on her goal of becoming a medic. Adults could upload all the information they needed into their heads, but Teardrop was only fifteen and the human brain doesn't stop developing until it reaches about twenty-five years of age. The experts had long decided that loading extensive courses like medical training into the undeveloped brain of a teenager could be potentially dangerous to him or her, so what took people in the Matrix five years to learn took adults in Zion a day or so, if that. It was going to take Tear at least another year. She got a lot of information uploaded into her head but it was at random, spaced-out intervals and she had to learn practically otherwise.

"Chase, brush your hair and whatever else you have to do. We've got an important appointment."

"What? Where are we meant to be?" Chase asked as Tear finished the bandaging. Ari sighed in frustration, walked over, and began ripping the careful, perfect bandage off Chase's arm.

"Hey!" Tear argued. "I said I was practicing."

"I said we're officially busy," Ari replied, handing the messy bandage back to her and pulling Chase to her feet. "Chase, brush your hair."

"What's going on?"

"The _Nadir_ arrived fifteen minutes ago," Ari said, actually seeking out Chase's comb for her. "We're meant to be in the council chamber – or at least, we are if we want the position available onboard the _Nadir_."

"Oh my God!" Chase squealed, turning to the table and grabbing the comb Ari had been searching fruitlessly for. "I thought that was tomorrow?" She dragged the teeth of the comb through her hair. Just the same shade as ever, except perhaps without the past lustre it had expressed in the Matrix, Chase's hair was now the same length it had been two years, ten months ago, before she'd been released.

"Yeah, that was what you told me," said Tear. Chase and Ari had put their names down on the list of potential recruits for hovercrafts as soon as they had each turned seventeen. A man called Cairo who had worked onboard the craft _Nadir_ was finally retiring, and both girls had applied for the position.

"Yes, I know, but this dumb summit thing got moved forward, so hurry before they give the job to Gore-r-us," Ari said in frustration, saying her nickname for Glorious quick enough that it sounded like her real name, except without the 'l'.

"So there's only one position?" Teardrop asked, making both girls pause momentarily. Cinnamon entered the room, slamming the door back against the wall.

"No, two," she said, having caught the last part of the conversation. "The _Hammer_ is here, too. They're potentially looking for a new inmate."

"Crewmate," Ari corrected.

"Inmate. Roland is meant to be like a drill sergeant. Or so I've heard."

Cin still retained her English accent, although after two years it was slowly dulling. Tear still sounded American, and Chase and Ari were still some of the only Aussies in Zion.

"Well, we get what we get," Chase said finally, replacing her comb onto the table. She fluffed her hair a little to make it sit right and then turned to her friends with a deep breath.

"Good luck," Tear said, giving Chase a brief squeeze. Chase smiled, and some of the nerves that had been building up in her stomach died. Ari and Cin sighed in frustration and pulled Chase free of the hug.

"Dude, we have to go _now_," Ari said clearly. Chase nodded. "The summit was beginning when I came to find you."

"Damn it!" Chase muttered, rushing to the door. She turned and waved at the other two as Ari bolted past her. "See you later."

Ari grabbed her wrist and yanked her from the doorway. Then they were running together, the cabin doors flashing past, passers-by watching in mild interest. People always found a spare moment in the daily walks to glance at the girls, or had until just recently, when a nine-year-old boy called Milo with the ability to affect the Matrix code for water had been freed by the _Logos_. The people were very excited. Milo was apparently the twelfth and final of those extraordinary 'disciples', so now all of the faithful Zioners were anticipating the discovery and coming of the One.

They reached the elevator, which thankfully opened the moment before they got there. Two middle-aged women stepped out, chatting brightly, but went silent when Chase and Ari dodged past them and ran into the elevator. They glanced at each other and left as the doors closed, blocking them from sight.

"Come on, come on," Chase murmured, tapping her well-cared-for fingernails on the metal walls of the confined lift.

"You were the one mucking around," Ari replied, standing very close to the doors for when they opened. "But I guess it would be nice if it were to go faster."

The elevator stopped, and a group of kids their age got in, also heading up. Chase didn't glance at them, but somehow, she felt a little twinge of sadness. They stood at the opposite end of the elevator, like kids stand apart from adult strangers. But there wouldn't have been a year between the five occupants of the lift.

Being the tenth or eleventh of twelve special people, Chase was blessed with a quick and patient mind that helped a lot in her training operations. Unlike a lot of young people in her classes, she could free her mind. She could jump higher than the other three in her lessons. She was faster than them. She was better with a gun, and she supposed her abilities made her a better shot, too. Early childhood ballet lessons with Carrie and Jasmine were to thank for Chase's good balance.

All of this together put Chase at the top of her class. Ari was the top of hers, with Glorious a wannabe close second. The other two classes had their own respective top students – two people Chase had never met, she remembered the names as Ninox and Hal.

But despite being so special, and having a lot that the other teens here wanted, Chase missed her socialite life in the Matrix. Back then, as Sophie, she had always had at least half a dozen friends around whenever she wanted them. Now she had three and the other kids isolated themselves from her because, plainly and simply, she was different. She'd given up a life where people thought she was a little weird for a place where people respected her, but left her alienated.

Finally Chase glanced at them. Two sixteen-or-seventeen-year-old boys and a girl completely ignored her, watching the floor or picking at their nails.

The doors opened, and Chase shoved her thoughts away. She and Ari bolted down the bridge, headed for the council chamber. A few people shot them annoyed glances as they passed, dodging around anyone that stopped or moved unexpectedly.

Chase overtook Ari briefly, and heard a small knock as Ari collided with someone.

"I'm sorry," she heard twice. Then Ari was back in line with her. They were scarily evenly matched (Ari was a bit faster), even if Ari had turned out quite a few inches taller. There hadn't been a lot of difference between their heights and figures the day they'd met but now Ari was taller and thinner, and Chase was shorter and sort of curvy.

Only a bit more… Inside the halls… Through the tall, winding corridors… Around just one… more… corner…

Finally, Chase and Ari simultaneously collapsed against the council doors, breathing heavily. Chase mustered the thought and energy to knock. Someone answered and ushered the panting, adrenaline-pumped teenagers into the chamber.

"You are both potential recruits?" the usher asked. They nodded, and were escorted to the first row of benches. Glorious and three other youths were there already. The girls received a nasty glare from still hardly attractive Glorious as they sat down.

Sitting at the bench at the front was a very formidable-looking selection of important people. A Zion councillor, Hamman, was in the middle, with a juror-like hammer. Either side of him were a scribe and a busy-looking man with the paperwork. There was also Captains Morpheus, Roland, Niobe, Archangel and Glyph, along with a woman called Dianthe. The four examiners had arrived for the occasion, too. Ari didn't look pleased to see Dasne.

"Now that everyone is here, I suppose we can begin," Hamman said. Somehow, it didn't sound unkind, and Chase relaxed the tiniest bit. She was glad she had been seated beside Ari.

The man with the paperwork handed Hamman a sheet.

"According to this, Captain Glyph, you put in a note of preference for Chase and Ari two years ago," Councillor Hamman said, glancing at Glyph. The captain nodded. He was tall, with a light blonde ponytail. He seemed very casual. Glorious shot another malicious glare in the direction of Chase and Ari.

"You will of course know, then, that it is council custom to examine all potential recruits that have applied, regardless of preference?" Hamman continued. Both Glyph and Roland nodded. The councillor handed the paper back to the paper dude and accepted another. "There are two positions available for a hovercraft crewmember, one each on the _Nadir_, under the captaincy of Captain Glyph, and on the craft _Hammer_, with leadership from Captain Roland. Six young Matrix-born students of the training program have applied for these positions. These youths are Ari, Chase, Glorious, Ninox, Roux and Sina. To make the examination fair and just, each recruit has two references – the Captain that released him or her from the Matrix and also his or her class examiner."

That was why Morpheus was here – for Chase and Ari. Chase was glad that her teacher was here. Linden was nice and very complimentary. Beside her, however, Ari's jaw dropped in horror. Dasne seemed to hate Ari. No way would Ari want Dasne as a reference.

Chase didn't think it was so bad. Dasne hated everyone with a functional plug in their head, and that included Glorious. Despite her bad moods, Dasne was brutally honest, and if she could find few nice things to say to Ari, Chase suspected (by the widening of Glorious's eyes) that she had even less for Ari's enemy.

Hamman began reading basic statistical information on Ari, the first in alphabetical order.

"Applicant one: Ari, female, age 17, freed almost three years ago by Morpheus and the crew of the _Nebuchadnezzar_. Height at time of release: five-foot-three. Current height: five-foot-eight. She is at the top of her class in the youth training program with Dasne as her teacher and examiner."

The captain of the _Hammer_ frightened Chase a bit. He didn't look nice or cheerful or casual like Captain Glyph. She would hate for either herself or Ari to end up being stuck with Roland. Now he didn't even nod or change his taut facial expression. His hard eyes probed the six young adults.

"Applicant two: Chase," Councillor Hamman continued, catching Chase's attention. "Female, age 17, freed at the same time as Ari – in the same operation – by Morpheus and his crew. At time of release from the Matrix, Chase was five-foot-two. She currently stands at five-foot-five and is also at the top of her class, run by examiner Linden."

How embarrassing – Chase was officially one inch taller than Ari had been at the start of year ten. If they had stayed in the Matrix they would now be graduating from high school, and Chase hardly had the height to match the age. She glanced at her potential future captains. Roland seemed unimpressed. His expression was still hard and distasteful, almost a grimace, really. But Glyph was listening with interest, taking in the information. His facial muscles sometimes moved a little relaxedly, like human faces were meant to from time to time. Although he could pass for one of those guys at South Bank that pretended to be statues, Roland should take an example from Glyph and move his expression before it got stuck like that. Maybe it was already stuck like that.

"Applicant three: Glorious, female, age 20, freed at age 15 by Captain Roland and the crew of the _Hammer_. When released from the Matrix, Glorious was five-foot-seven. Current height: six feet. She is a high scoring student of examiner Dasne."

Glorious sat a little straighter, and Ari rolled her eyes and sat deeper on her seat, slouching and crossing her arms over her chest. Glyph glanced at her. Chase felt a small twinge of alarm – Ari's current stance betrayed her bad-girl attitude. That might set her back a few points in Glyph's mental scoring. Chase pulled urgently on Ari's arm, unfolding them. Despite Ari's mystified look, Chase sat straight, watching her expectantly and worriedly. Ari sat up, looking over at the summit members at the front and noticing Glyph's gaze. She studied Chase's perfect, eager-to-please, teacher's-pet posture briefly and copied it, taking a deep breath. Chase looked across to Glyph, hoping he hadn't been paying too much attention.

"Applicant four: Ninox," Hamman said, then cleared his throat. "Male, 17, freed at age 13 five years ago by Captain Niobe and the _Logos_. Height at release: five-foot-three. Current height: six-foot-two. Graduating at the top of his training class as a student of examiner Chiron."

The councillor took another sheet and read off that. Chase looked around. Wasn't Ninox another prophesised person? If she and Ari were tenth and eleventh in the line, he'd have to be, like, ninth. He was even their age! Why hadn't they met him before?

"Applicant five: Roux. Male, 22, freed at age 16 by Captain Osprey, represented here today by his successor and former ranking officer, Captain Archangel, an assistant in Roux's release. Roux's height then was five-foot-six and is now five-foot-eight. He received high scores from Chiron, his examiner and teacher."

Chase began fidgeting. How long would this take? It was a very formal trial, really, and those usually took ages.

"Applicant six is Sina," the councillor said, and he sounded as relieved to get to the end of the stats as Chase felt. "She is 17 and was freed at age 8 by Captain Dotterel, represented here today by ranking officer Dianthe."

Chase knew Sina, who was in her class, to have been the daughter of Dianthe inside the Matrix. When Dianthe was freed, she left her daughter in the capable hands of her boyfriend, but when she learned that he had been killed in an accident, she had gone back at great risk and released her child daughter from the Matrix.

"The daughter of Dianthe, Sina is a high scoring student of Linden, and she stands at five-foot-six," Hamman finished.

Papers were distributed between the two captains seeking recruits. An eerie silence followed. Chase glanced at Ari. This was awkward. They turned and looked down the row. Beside Chase was a young man, too old to be seventeen. He looked older than twenty-two as well, but the West-European guy beside her had to be Roux. He wasn't over six feet. Beside him was Sina, cute and elfin and of evident German decent. She spoke fluent English and German, and Chase, who had taken German as a subject at school, liked listening to her and learning from her.

Beside her was Glorious, and Chase couldn't see past the big twenty-year-old girl's bulk at whom she supposed was Ninox.

Finally, Captain Glyph asked to hear from each applicant's examiner. Chiron seemed lovely. He didn't have enough good things to say about his two students, particularly Ninox.

"I would like to add, sir, that my student Ninox is widely considered to be the ninth in a succession of twelve extraordinary prophesised potentials," Chiron finished brightly. Chase and Ari again turned and looked down the row. Still, Glorious blocked any possibility of view of this Ninox.

"But Dasne and Linden both have a student each with abilities relating to the same prophesy," Glyph said, as though contradicting Chiron. But he was smiling relaxedly as he took a paper from the paper dude. "Okay, Ninox, can you step forward please?"

The boy stood and walked down the row, passing the other five. Chase glanced up at him as he passed her. She met a pair of very familiar, very pretty hazel eyes.

Yay! Ninox! I couldn't wait to add him to the plot.


	10. Chapter Ten

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes:

Solia: Thanks, finally, reviews! Sorry, I just love reading reviews. In this chapter you'll be introduced a bit more to Ninox, the newest member of the cast, who is based on a guy whose Biology and English homework I have been known to complete due to his inability to do so himself.

Not much longer now til Lady Delerith's chapters!

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter Ten

Ninox walked up to the front bench, and Chase watched him. How cute. Ari had never seen her staring at a guy. She nudged her and smirked slightly, too slightly for the captains, councillors and examiners to notice, and she tilted her head in Ninox's direction suggestively. Checking first to see if they were all ignoring her, Chase leaned closer to Ari so she could whisper in her ear.

"He is pretty spunky, huh?" Ari whispered, grinning. Chase sat up straight again and didn't answer.

Ninox was hot. He had a natural tan-brown complexion and black hair. And he was tall. Ari decided to compare notes with Chase (who was obviously paying even closer attention to him) later. Chase probably knew the exact colour of his eyes just from a glance.

For ten minutes, Glyph and Roland asked Ninox an assortment of questions. Glyph's were simple and easy, like, "What is your ideal crew number?" and "Why did you elect to train for this particular force?" But Roland seemed distinctly cold, and, dare she say it, nasty. His questions were more like, "Do you think you're special just because of this prophecy?"

Glyph called Ari over. Smiling tightly at Chase, hoping to gain a little hope and energy from her ever-patient friend, she stood and went over. She passed Ninox on his way back up. He was _hot._

"So, what's your favourite weapon, Ari?" Glyph asked first off. Ari was a little surprised by the question, but she answered smoothly.

"Swords for close range. Semi-automatic machine guns otherwise."

"Offensive or defensive?"

"Offensive."

"Why do you want to join this particular force?" Captain Glyph questioned as he had Ninox.

"Because the weirdos here were, like, worshipping me and Chase, so we wanted to do something that might one day let us live up to their expectations," said Ari. Glorious snorted rudely.

"He said 'you', not 'you and Chase'," Roland snapped, speaking for the first time. His voice was just as harsh and cold as Ari had imagined.

"I wanted to do something that might one day let me live up to their expectations of me and Chase, then," Ari said, a little annoyed, her pride singed. "People are retards and they're all waiting for us to pull rabbits out of our ears."

"'People are retards', Ari?" Morpheus asked pointedly. She shrugged.

"Aren't they?" She could practically feel Chase's frustrated glare. She looked up at her friend and discovered she was right. "Don't look at me like that. You know it's true."

"If you think so little of the people of Zion, why would you want to fight for them?" Glyph asked with deep interest.

"Because I'm a freak, too," Ari answered. "Everyone here's weird. Just because they're freaks doesn't mean I don't like them. All the plug-people are freaks, or else they wouldn't be here, would they? I'm just a bit more of a freak than them, just cause some old lady said something, and me and Chase fit the description."

"You bring Chase up a lot," Roland said immediately. "Would you say that you are dependent on Chase? You should know that I don't want-"

"No, sir-"

"How would you cope without an interdependent like your friend Chase? You don't-"

"Sir, I don't know what you know about me, but if you had been listening you would have heard that both Chase and I were freed simultaneously, and for the last three years we have been isolated by the rest of this city. We both made the same decision to apply for this workforce and with few others to relate to we have become very close friends. While I wouldn't agree that we are dependent on each other I would say that we work very well as a team as we know we _can_ depend on each other. I'm sorry, Captain, for my bluntness, but you wouldn't let me finish."

There was a ringing silence. Ari wondered curiously if she'd gone too far as she watched Captain Roland's statuesque face seemingly boil and spasm with anger.

"Ari has a very blunt, full-on and impulsive nature," Dasne said finally. "She has a short patience and temper. She has a very offensive personality – hence her preference to offensive fighting. I suspect in the Matrix Ari was the kind of child who wore black nail polish and dyed her hair purple."

Hell, Dasne was good.

"She has a very odd self-perception," the examiner continued. "There is no real consistency in her RSI. She is always dressed according to her personal style – punk and heavy. But her hair is never the same. One day she will have black curls like those natural, real-world ringlets you see now, the next she will have a mahogany ponytail. This leads me to suspect that in the past Ari has been a permanent identity crisis, never knowing her true self."

Okay, this was getting scary. Where did Dasne get this stuff?

"However," and here Dasne paused, running her fingers through her hair. "However, Ari has a surprisingly strong mind, she is very loyal and has a very effective fighting style. She is unpredictable and possibly unstable at times, but she never lets her emotions control her. While perhaps not subtle, she has enough natural aggression and attitude to get her work done. She's also very fast and very good with her favourite weapons. She has passed the examinations with top scores and I would recommend her above any of my other students."

Ari's jaw dropped again. No _way_ was she really hearing this. Dasne referring her to Captain Glyph? This was so not happening.

"I would, too, Captain Glyph," Morpheus spoke up. "I would recommend Ari as a member of your crew. She is impulsive, or perhaps she just doesn't need as long to think things through as others may, but she did take the red pill without a single hesitation. She is clearly adventurous and headstrong. She knows what she wants. That's rare at seventeen. And she is very loyal. When I released her from the Matrix, she had known Chase for less than eight hours. Today, three years later, she retains the bond she made that day in a technology class through an inter-network chat program."

"What other examples of loyalty, Dasne?" Glyph asked.

"I believe her only other real friendships to be with her roommates. Ari instinctively bonds with those in close proximity to herself. Probably a 'survival' instinct picked up from a turbulent or inattentive childhood."

"Alright, you're scaring me now," Ari said seriously. To her utter shock, Dasne smiled. _Smiled_.

Glyph turned back to Ari and studied her for a moment.

"Ari, in a fight of your choice, where would you want to be, and who would you have as your team?" he asked at last.

"I like to fight up front with Chase covering my back. I hate hiding and bad guys don't get dead without someone getting into the thick of it," Ari answered honestly. "Besides, Chase is good at defending from the back. I trust her to keep me alive."

"Thanks, Ari," Glyph said with a smile. With a quick return smile, Ari turned and hurried back to her seat beside Chase.

"I feel so honoured," Chase whispered as she sat down, and Roland called Roux down.

It was true, though. Ari would trust Chase, Tear and Cinnamon with her life, but few others. Call her untrusting, but it was something stemming from her childhood with her terrible parents. There was no point in lying to the captain. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Maybe he would fire someone to make room for both girls?

Ha ha.

While waiting for Chase's turn, Ari sat silently, thinking. How would she feel if Chase got the placement on Captain Glyph's ship instead of her? Would she be happy for Chase or would she envy her, or both? What would Ari do if Chase got the job and left, leaving her alone in this big underground city except for Teardrop and Cinnamon? Ari wasn't insecure, but the thought frightened her. What if there was no one else here for her to band with, no one else to share alienation with? Then what? What happened when your first real friend, and the only other person like yourself, went away?

With only Cin and Tear, Ari wouldn't feel so strong against bitchy bullies like Glorious. It was true that Glorious was Ari's enemy and not Chase's, but with her three friends she felt braver, because she was protected from all sides.

Glorious wouldn't hesitate to come at Ari if Chase, Ari's closest ally, weren't there.

But that was only one possibility. What if _Ari_ got the position and Chase was left here alone? Chase was frighteningly insecure and vulnerable. Her entire close-knit family and great group of friends had become lost to her all in one day. Could she handle losing Ari forever if one of the _Nadir_'s in-Matrix operations went bad?

Probably not, so if Ari did get the position, she would be very careful not to get herself killed, and would leave Cin and Tear with orders to hide all sharp objects in the event of Ari's demise.

Not that innocent, naïve Chase would know where to cut herself anyway.

But Ari was being melodramatic. She might lead a boring dish-cleaning life for the next twenty years and only have to fear for her life when someone let the old dishes pile up and begin to stink the craft out.

"Chase, can we see you, please?" Glyph asked nicely, looking up from a paper, probably Chase's application form. With an apprehensive look to Ari, Chase got up and went carefully down the steps to stand before the captains. Ari leaned forward to hear better, before remembering that the chamber echoed.

She wanted to know what this job entailed – she really didn't want that dishes job she'd just thought about.

"Chase, if a man with a gun was running wildly towards you, what would you do?" Glyph asked interestedly. Chase considered the question.

"Is he aiming at me?" she asked finally. Glyph nodded. "I'd probably shoot him in the hip if I had enough time to aim properly."

"And what weapon would you have?" the captain asked her.

"Something small, but with a bit of power," Chase answered. "Probably a Mac11 or something like that."

"And why do you like smaller weapons, Chase?" asked Glyph.

"I don't like any weapons. I don't want to kill people. But if I have to carry something, and I usually do, it would be a Mac11."

"Why?" Glyph asked. He seemed intrigued by Chase's firm ethics. Ari had no problem with killing if her own life was in danger, (she had never killed a real person – only simulated ones) but Chase's honest and proper upbringing in the Matrix meant that she retained those inbuilt morals.

One day, they both knew, she would have to kill. But for now, she could maim simulated foes and keep her childish innocence.

"They're easier to carry, easier to use and they're long range and short range weapons at the same time." She shrugged. "I like them."

"Offensive or defensive?"

"Defensive. Usually covering someone's back."

"Do you believe in the Oracle and her prophesies?"

Chase went silent for a moment.

"Apparently, I _am_ one of her prophecies," she said carefully, "so it would be difficult for me to exist in my own mind if I didn't believe in what she says."

Ari rolled her eyes. Big words and mature sentencing were Chase's thing.

"So you do believe that you are one in a line of twelve extraordinary people to be freed from the Matrix?" Glyph said.

"It would explain a lot."

"But you do believe?"

"Yes. At least, I hope so. Otherwise every other kid in this place has sidled past me with a sideways glance for nearly three years for no real reason," said Chase. She brushed a lock of her hair out of her eyes.

Glyph tilted his head to the side, regarding Ari's friend. Ari wished she had Chase's weird ability to know what people were thinking and feeling. Then again, the ability probably came with the territory – Chase was sentimental and sensitive, two things Ari didn't want to be. She would much rather be thick-skinned and harder to reach, and not have Chase's intuitive sensitivity, than be as open to hurt as Chase was. Look how much being separated from her family had messed her up. That would never happen to Ari. She was far too hardened for that.

Linden, Chase's current examiner, began to speak at Glyph's request.

"Chase is my highest grading student," the terribly pale, almost ill looking examiner said kindly, smiling encouragingly at Chase. "She possesses incredible talents that I have never seen before in a student. According to the ranking grades on the program computers, the only others with similar talent to go through the training program are two by the names of Ari and Ninox – both of whom are here today. But unlike them, Chase seems to know before her opponents strike. It is a very interesting ability."

That was probably another thing linked to Chase's intuitive talents, or at least, Ari thought so. Ari hadn't worked out her special talent that set her apart from her evenly matched friend. They both were fast, they both were agile, they both were just plain good in combat – but Chase seemed to foresee moves just instants before they happened, giving her just the amount of time to get out of the way.

Unfair.

"Chase is also patient, merciful and compassionate. She's very friendly and likeable."

"I'm looking for a soldier, not a babysitter," Roland said with annoyance. "If you're just going to tell me what a good little girl scout she is, I'm not interested. Dasne, have you ever taught this girl?"

"Yes, when she first started in the youth program," Dasne agreed. "I teach all of the students in their first six months of training. First-semester students are shared between all examiners before, after the six months, they are separated into random classes to continue their learning with one examiner. Chase was put into Linden's care for training and guidance."

"So you taught Chase for six months?" Roland checked. Dasne nodded. "Tell me what you think of her."

"Chase is softhearted, obsessed with what others think of her and childishly eager to please," Dasne said spontaneously, and Ari's jaw dropped yet again. Dasne disliked Chase too? Adults always liked Chase. She was a teachers' pet. "I was actually shocked to learn that she and Ari were best friends. She is the exact opposite of Ari. She is placid, patient, and has a very good idea of who she is. Where Ari is hotheaded and impulsive, Chase is cool and calculating. Ari plunges thoughtlessly into a challenge – Chase thinks about it too much. However, she is tenacious and emotional. Or at least, she was when I taught her, and I doubt whether she has changed much."

"What about her fighting styles?" Captain Glyph asked. No one seemed interested in what Linden had to say.

"Unlike Ari, Chase does not instigate. If there is no problem, she sees no reason to fight. If attacked, she defends herself and retaliates, but she does not pick the fights. She is contemplative and subtle. She is a good fighter – she was very resistant at first to hurt anyone, but she has good balance and agility. I believe her excellent understanding of mathematics and physics assist her with her clever strategies."

"See?" Ari mumbled to Roux, as if he had been paying attention to her thoughts, and shook her head. People always had good things to say about good-girl Chasey. Bad girls like Ari didn't get the same perception, unfortunately.

"The only things I see in common between Chase and Ari are their abilities, their date of release from the Matrix and their loyalty. But Chase has no loyalty to herself – expect her to be very self-sacrificing. And, like Linden said earlier, Chase is very friendly. Probably used to having a lot of friends."

Chase nodded; so did Ari. Chase was like a friend-addict.

"She's clean-cut and ethical, and very intelligent," Morpheus offered. "She's tenacious. She learns quickly, but was hard to convince to leave because of her love for her family and friends." He almost smiled. "I will again support the notion that Chase and Ari work well as a team. Ari is strong and forceful enough that she rarely needs protection, but when that fails or isn't useful, Chase's selflessness and quick thinking can save them both. Take for example the day I freed them both. After I had enticed the girls into the bushland beside their school, they were attacked by an agent from above."

Ari heard the summit members begin to murmur amongst themselves. Of course, they would just love that – if no one had ever defeated an agent, how had two panicking fourteen-year-olds escaped an attack like that?

"How did you escape?" Hamman asked, intrigued. Chase, who hadn't been allowed to speak in a while, was slightly startled.

"Um, we ran away," she admitted, a little nervously. The summit members listened with interest, so she continued. "The agent leaped down at Kye – I mean, Ari – and I grabbed her and just bolted. I think… Trinity protected us. We got to the bathrooms and, well, that's it. It wasn't very heroic, or anything. We were terrified."

Ari frowned at Chase's mention of her old name. Kye? Why had she said that? She made a mental note to ask later.

"You said earlier that you don't like weapons?" Glyph said, sitting straight. Ari guessed that this was the end of the inquisition. Chase nodded. "Why?"

"I said – I don't like killing," Chase said.

"Why not? What if your own life, or a crewmate's, was in danger?"

"I suppose I could kill if I had to," Chase stammered, "but isn't it better to maim?"

"What about in the event of an agent?" Glyph questioned.

"Run: I've seen how strong and fast and persevering they can be."

"If I took you on, and taught you, do you think you could learn to kill?" Glyph asked finally.

That sounded promising for Chase.

"I don't know."

"Then what good are you?" Roland asked roughly, and Ari felt a burst of red-hot anger somewhere in her blood stream. How dare he speak to Chase like that? Chase blinked, offended and hurt, but then turned around to give Ari a warning look.

Don't do anything.

Ari wasn't sure if that was Chase's voice in her head, sending her messages, or just a knowing thought, but she heard it. She frowned, tense in case she had to get up and give the rude captain a thrashing.

"I asked you a question," Roland said coldly, and Ari snapped.

"She doesn't have to answer a question like that," she said, standing and marching down the steps to Chase's side. Her friend looked horrified, but she ignored the look. "You're just being plain rude. And don't ask me to excuse my bluntness, because I won't. Not to you."

The silence was completely death-like. It was seriously a ringing silence, so silent you could hear it.

"Do you have no respect?" Roland asked, his voice almost a whisper, but in the silence, it could have been a scream. Chase was white with fear – she had probably never back-chatted a teacher in school, let alone stood up to a respected captain like Roland. Her colouring was interesting – naturally, her complexion was a few shades darker than pale Ari's. Chase was a light olive colour. But the bloodlessness made her look ill.

"I have respect," Ari said, ignoring what sounded like Chase's speeding heartbeat. She had come all the way down to Chase's side out of turn – how much more trouble could she get into? "I respect the councillors, I respect the examiners, I respect the other captains present. I respect…" here she looked around at the other students, hesitating for a moment "… _most_ of the others in this chamber. I apologise to them now for speaking out of turn, but I won't apologise to you, Captain Roland. You have something against me, and Chase, and I expect Ninox, too. I suppose you aren't one of the faithful to the Oracle. But your prejudice is completely unfair."

Roland didn't answer. He just glared at her.

Chase swallowed and closed her eyes.

"Other people don't believe, but they don't speak to us like you have, sir," she said in a small voice. When the captain turned his dark gaze on her, she trembled. "I don't mean you any disrespect, sir."

"What did I tell you?" Dasne asked suddenly. "Eager to please. Soft. And eternally loyal to Ari. If you were to throw Ari out right now for her insolence, Chase would walk right out after her."

Chase glanced at Ari. She was terrified to be thrown out. But Ari didn't care. This wasn't a fair trial-thingy.

"I don't expect any sort of civilised response from your friend, but can I expect an apology from you, Miss Chase?" Roland asked. He was trying to break her into submission. Obviously he didn't like being shown up by a pair of teenage girls. His voice was frozen and stony – Chase was sure to snap under the pressure.

But Chase was silent. She looked down at her hands. Ari followed her gaze. She was playing with her fingers… Ari wished she would say something. Chase's emotions were so easy to read, but not her thoughts.

"No, you can't," Chase said finally. "I'm sorry, sir. I respect your authority and your rank and the power you have over me… but not how you exert it. I respect the way Morpheus applies his authority. He doesn't scare me. He doesn't demand respect. You can't. I would still do whatever you asked within reason, sir, but not willingly. If Morpheus asked me to be seated right now, I would, and willingly."

Go, Chase.

But now Ari had to stick by that, too. Both girls turned to Morpheus to hear his opinion on the matter at hand. Hopefully he wouldn't be angry and demand that both girls be burned at the stake for heresy.

He smiled.

Smiled?

"I think young Chase is developing opinions of her own, not just standing at Ari's back," Morpheus said, not remotely angry.

"Captain Roland, sir, I wish to withdraw my application for the position on your ship," Ari said strongly.

"Are you withdrawing your application from me?" Glyph asked. Incredibly, he sounded actually disappointed.

"No, sir," Ari answered. She shot Roland a heated glare, then turned and strode back up the steps to her seat.

There was another uncomfortable silence. Chase looked up at Ari.

"If you follow her, you'll automatically be withdrawing your application from me," Roland said furiously. For about twenty awkward seconds, Chase looked between Roland and Ari, torn.

"Come on, come on," Ari whispered. Beside her, Roux shot her a glance.

"Does she have the balls to follow you?" he asked under his breath, pretending to wipe his brow to cover his face. Ari shrugged. She hoped so, for her own sake and for Chase's.

In complete silence, Chase walked carefully back up the steps and sat down beside Ari.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' Notes:

Solia: Thanks reviewers! It's always good to read people's opinions, like those of our lovely reviewers. So thanks to Ninja Neo, Danigrebel, Cerrita and Lady Smith for your opinions of our characters. I also love to know what you all think of our characters, and not just Chase and Ari. Seriously, guys, if you don't like one of our support characters, (Teardrop, Cinnamon, Ninox, etc) speak now or forever hold your peace.

Thanks also Psalm 136, Platinum Azure, Bloodmoon and everyone else who has reviewed.

Lady Delerith: I would like to mention one thing. Ari kicks everyones arse (except Chase's cause that would be mean) in this chapter. Love Lady Delerith 3

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter Eleven

"I can't believe what I just did in there."

That was about the eighteenth time Chase had said that since being sent to an antechamber with Ari, Glorious, Sina, Roux and Ninox.

"You might still be alright – Glyph seems to like du – uh, you – und Ari did a lot more bad," Sina said consolingly, accidentally switching to German more than once in her sentence.

"And Morpheus stuck up for you," Ari said dejectedly. Poor Ari. She was facing definite punishment for her appalling behaviour and wasn't going to get a job. No one had actually said that, but it was evident.

"Would you believe that Dasne said all that nice stuff about you?" Chase said, trying to lift her spirits.

"Cut out the bullshit; face it," Glorious said nastily. She smirked. "You two seriously screwed yourselves over."

"Shut up, Glorious," Chase said tiredly, and because she couldn't be bothered to think up a more insulting thing to say, she added, "nobody likes you."

It was perhaps lame and hardly insulting to a twenty-year-old, but the others laughed.

"Yeah, well, no one likes you either, especially not after your display of personality in the chamber," Glorious snapped. Chase rolled her eyes. If her sentence had been lame, then to respond was just sad.

"Jesus, Glorious, how childish are you?" she asked, annoyed. "I wouldn't expect a sad little retaliation like that from anyone older than, like, eight."

Sina giggled – Chase sensed Glorious thinking of an insult for the girl. She didn't care if this ended with fists. She didn't care about anything like that right now. Glorious was right – she had screwed herself over.

"Don't laugh at me, you stupid-"

"Don't even finish that sentence, Glorious," Chase muttered, loud enough to hide the end of the comment from Sina.

"Yeah, weren't you listening? No one likes you. Hence, no one's interested in your opinion of Sina," Ari said. While Glorious went red, Ari turned to Chase. "By the way, this is way off topic, but why did you call me Kye in there?"

"I guess the girl that the agent went for was Kye Saunders to me then," Chase answered. "To me, you weren't Ari until we got picked up. I met Kye that morning before school, I waited for Kye in the hall before our detention-"

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not a little tramp like you."

Chase and Ari went silent. They glanced at each other, raising their eyebrows.

"It took you that long to think of a comeback?" Ari asked incredulously. "How sad."

"Like me?" Chase repeated.

"That's right."

Roux and Ninox grinned and made the traditional 'oooohhhh' sound that follows a bitchy comment.

"I'm not a tramp," Chase said. She was calming down now.

"You dress like one." When Chase looked over her conservative outfit, Glorious added, "In simulated realities."

"She doesn't dress like a tramp, she just has style," Ari snapped. "Besides, it's not her fault she has the physique for short skirts and you don't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Glorious said furiously.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Ari answered. "We're hot and thin and you're not. Now shut up and go away – we aren't talking to you."

Glorious stood, fists raised, and stormed up to Ari. As her friend rose to the challenge, Chase grabbed her and stood herself between them. Roux and Ninox also jumped up to help. They managed to stop Glorious just before she reached the girls. There was a moment of silence.

"You two are not _hot_," Glorious spat finally, backing out of the guys' holds. "You're too skinny, and too much of a bitch," she said, eyeing Ari hatefully, before turning to Chase with only a slight reduction of hatred, "and _you're_ too short, too goody-good and your personal style is just slutty."

"That's the best you can come up with?" Chase asked. She disliked Glorious too much to be offended by whatever she said.

"Yeah, Gore-r-us, you see? You're lame and dumb and untalented – no one cares about your opinions, so just piss off, will you?" Ari said angrily. She was even more prone to impulsive anger than usual when feeling as desperately hopeless as she (and Chase) felt now after their behaviour display.

Glorious growled and launched herself again at the girls. Beside her, Chase felt Ari about to respond with some kind of attack, but there was a small, niggly feeling at the back of her mind…

She grabbed Ari's wrist and pulled her down onto the bench they had been seated on before. Roux and Ninox fought against the evil, struggling Glorious, trying to keep her from attacking the girls. Just as Chase and Ari sat down, the door to the antechamber opened, and Councillor Hamman, Captain Glyph and a scribe person entered the room. They saw Glorious fighting the boys (which, of course, she stopped doing when she realised they were there) and had no idea how much of her aggression was Ari's fault.

"Thank you," Hamman said, eyeing with displeasure a flushed Glorious as she sat down alone. The boys sat down either side of Sina. There was an uncomfortable silence. Chase wondered if what they had seen of Glorious's violent behaviour would affect the judgement at all. "While Captain Roland left after the summit, saying that he was completely unimpressed by the students offered to him, Captain Glyph has agreed to take on not one, but two of you."

Chase's heart leapt – could it be true? – and she shared an apprehensive, hopeful glance with Ari. Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please.

Glyph cleared his throat uncomfortably as he surveyed the room of hopeful gazes.

"Uh, yeah," he said, and Chase liked him all the more for his casual language. She hoped so badly that he'd chosen her and Ari for some strange, incomprehensible reason. "I asked a lot of unusual questions, I know, but I think some of them brought out the sides of some people that I really needed to see."

Chase knew he was thinking of Ari. Her heart started falling.

"I judged you all by your scores, by what others said about your personality, by the answers you gave to me and by the character traits you may have displayed."

Oh, well. There had to be other, maybe even nicer captains in the fleet that would take Chase and/or Ari on.

"Cease this," Sina said, smiling despite her evident anxiety. "Tell what you have decided. You are teasing with this 'beating about the bush'. This 'hedging'. Did you or did you not choose me?"

Glyph smiled back at her. Chase sighed inwardly. So he'd chosen Sina, then.

"Sina, you're a very nice and talented girl, and I respect your mother very much, but I'm afraid that I don't feel that you would fit in onboard my ship. I have some real characters – I think you'd be uncomfortable and I don't want you getting hurt because you can't trust them."

Sina smiled through her rejection. She hated stress and suspension. She was just glad for it to be over.

"Thank you for your consideration," she said.

"You look sick with worry, Roux," Glyph said to the eldest applicant, "but sorry, I didn't pick you, either. Sorry, mate."

Roux looked dejected but didn't say anything or object.

"Hurry and say," Ari begged.

"Don't you like the suspense? Chase and Ari."

_Chase and Ari?_ No. Chase was hearing wrong. Incorrectly. Glyph could not have chosen her. He could not have chosen _Ari_. He could _not_ have chosen _them both_.

"What?" Glorious demanded.

"Yeah. What?" Ari agreed. This was a first – Ari agreeing with Glorious.

"Our behaviour was horrendous!" Chase said, shocked.

"Yeah," Ninox said with a good-natured grin. He didn't seem upset or remotely offended by the fact that Captain Glyph had chosen two badly behaved girls over him. In fact, he seemed to find it amusing.

What a weirdo. He was cute, but weird.

"Sorry, everyone else," Glyph said, clapping his hands once. Sina, Ninox and Roux stood to leave. Chase was just about to raise her hand (old classroom habit) when she realised how dumb that would look and stood. She approached the captain. Ari followed her.

"Um, excuse me, sir," she said uncomfortably. The captain turned to them with a pleasant smile. "Why on earth did you choose me? Us?"

"We're not exactly ideal," Ari said dryly.

Glyph smiled wider.

"You remind me of how I would have conducted myself in such an situation at your age," he said. "I said before – I have some real strong characters on my ship. I need people with a bit of spunk – you two seem to have it. Besides, Morpheus put in a few really good words for you both while you were waiting out here."

"I don't believe this!" Glorious said explosively, finally standing. Roux and Sina had already stepped outside, but Ninox heard the outburst and waited, probably expecting some kind of catfight he could watch. "They behaved… They were appalling!"

"I need people with strong personalities and opinions. I'm sorry, Glorious."

Taking it as a personal insult to hear that Chase and Ari had stronger personalities than she did, Glorious went furiously red and glared at Ari as if it were completely her fault, which, Chase reflected briefly, it probably was.

"You won't hold position for long," Glorious hissed to Ari. "I give you a month before they kick you out."

"Hey," Glyph said, trying to defuse the instant tension, but Ari, naturally, snapped back.

"Get over it, Gore-r-us – you lost. The position is mine," she added, a little crowingly. Glorious stormed up. Glyph and Ninox stood back to see how the situation was settled; Chase took her place at Ari's side, her hand warningly on Ari's arm, indicating that they should not fight, but if Glorious went to hit Ari, Chase would fight back. Ari clenched her fists in preparation. But to everyone's surprise, Glorious stopped directly before Ari, glaring into her eyes.

"I'll fight you for it," she said in a threatening tone.

"For what?" Chase asked before Ari could jump in and agree.

"The position." Glorious was still watching Ari, waiting for the reaction she could predict. "I'll fight you for it. I want a retrial."

"I don't think there's any need for that," Glyph said, trying to be placating.

"I do," Glorious said, her voice quite soft.

"Yeah, alright," Ari said with a careless shrug. "It's not like I could possibly lose to you." She turned to Glyph. "Sir, may I?"

"I don't see why not – I'd get to see you in action."

"You're giving Glorious a retrial? That isn't fair," Ninox remarked from the doorway. He sounded just as Australian as either Chase or Ari. "I'm way better than her – and way cooler."

"Shut your face," Glorious snarled.

"Hey," Glyph and Chase said simultaneously in warning voices.

"So can I have a retrial, too? A fight?"

"You'll have to take on Chase," Glorious said with a smirk. "Ari will be too tired to fight you after I've finished with her."

"Probably," Ari agreed, starting for the door. She stopped and smiled at Ninox. "She's right. After my fight with her, there's no way I'll have the energy to fight anyone else. My victory dance is very energy-consuming."

Before Glorious could lose her temper again, Ari left the room, heading for the computer chambers where they had undergone their training for years.

"You want a position on a ship so badly you'd risk losing to a girl?" Glyph asked Ninox teasingly as they followed. Ninox grinned back.

"I don't really want a retrial. I just heard that Glorious was getting one so I thought, why not?"

"You know I'm not planning on changing my mind on my decisions, don't you?" Captain Glyph said.

"I figured that. But yeah – who cares? It's still a chance to show off, isn't it?"

Chase smiled. Ninox was nice, relaxed, and just as cool as he acted. She didn't mind the thought that she would have to spar with him. Their fight would be a game in comparison with what was about to erupt between Ari and Glorious. She was pretty sure that, if left to their own devices, Ari or Glorious would eventually kill the other.

Fifteen minutes later, the four of them were settled into the chairs they would lie in during their virtual fights. A small crowd had come to watch. Glyph had sent Sina to tell the summit what was happening, so a few of them had, instead of forbidding the spars, actually come along to take advantage of the fights and watch them. Dasne, Linden and Chiron were there, with Glyph, Morpheus, Sina and Roux. Tear and Cinnamon had seen the group trooping to the examination rooms and followed. Even Trinity had appeared mystically (apparently she had been waiting for Morpheus near the summit chamber and had come along to watch the fight) and now she was whispering techniques to Ari.

"Ready?" Dasne asked, sliding the narrow insert into Chase's half-forgotten head plug. Usually she was very conscious of the fact that she had a huge metal hole in the back of her head, but during the stress and tension of the summit trial, she had forgotten all about that kind of stuff.

"I am," Ninox said cheerfully. Chase turned her head as far as the plug in her head would allow her to, so that she could see him. "So you're sure that there'll be weapons in this place? I don't want to play stupid hand-to-hand games all day."

"I will load _some_ weapons into the program," Dasne said reluctantly, tapping a few buttons on the keyboard, "but nothing serious. No guns."

"Nothing serious?" Ari asked, sounding disappointed.

Oh, yes, Ari, Chase thought to herself, I know how much you want to hurt Glorious. Lucky Dasne isn't playing ball.

"Knives. Swords. Ancient weapons. Whips. Sticks. But nothing worse. Nothing whose damage we cannot fix."

"Whips," Ninox murmured in the same way Homer Simpson says 'doughnuts'. Chase giggled.

"Kinky," Ari agreed.

"You all know the rules. No serious injuries that we here cannot heal. Definitely no killing. Play to win, not to kill. Understood by all?"

All four of them nodded, and, with a tap of a button, Dasne sent them into their own minds, into a virtual world, and made the real world of Zion blacken out.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' Notes:

Lady Delerith: Yes, i know you must all be gobs smacked but i DID finally write one of my chapters! Don't gasp too hard now. Anyway, this is my chappy in Ari's point of view, hope you all like it

Solia: She finished it! There, Andii, it's up. Not that you hadn't read it already on camp. Just for all those readers who are wondering what I'm on about, I nagged Delerith the whole time we were in Europe together to get her chapter done. We finally got back and, just before I left for Biology camp (I HATE mangroves and they should all be knocked down to make way for industrialism) Delerith gave me her handwritten draft of chapter 12. It's taken me a few weeks to get it typed and spell-checked. I haven't had much time – after camp I had my heart broken, and then I've had exams and stuff because it would of course be just my luck to come back to school just in time for exams. So, as you can imagine, this hasn't been at the top of my priorities list. Until now, when Andii started harassing me to get it uploaded.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter Twelve

Ari opened her eyes as the training room materialised around her. She turned and took in her virtual surroundings. The room looked like Ari's perfect dream. The walls were lined with weapons. Daggers, double-bladed swords, spears, num-chucks, samurai swords… everything they would need with the exception of any kind of guns. Ari sighed. A machine gun would be nice at the moment, but melee weapons were better for her. She could make a bigger mess of Glorious with knives than she could with bullets.

_What a sick little mind I have_, Ari sniggered to herself. She ran her hands down her sides, feeling the leather beneath her fingers; this was all too good.

The long training room was split in half by a wall of glass, and through it Ari could see Chase preparing herself to fight with Ninox, who was standing in front of her, looking at the weapons. Normal guys would have been checking Chasey out. Why did Chase always find herself in miniskirts whenever she entered a virtual reality?

A second later Chase was charging at Ninox. Seeing his predicament, Ninox went to sidestep and reach for her arm. Before he could grab her, Chase dropped to the floor and spun her leg around, forcing the heel of her boot into the back of his right knee. Ninox fell as Chase straightened herself and ran towards the nearest wall and pulled a thin sword from its sheath. She pointed her sword towards Ninox and took a glance around the room. A flash of intuition seemed to hit her and she turned her gaze to meet Ari's. Ari smiled at her best friend, but Chase's eyes widened as she pointed to a location somewhere behind Ari.

"Look out!"

Surely Chase shouted it as she moved away from Ninox's attack with another sword, but just as surely, the pane of glass separating the friends blocked all sound. How was it, then, that Ari heard Chase's warning resonate in her head?

Ari turned just in time to dodge away from the pointed edge of Glorious' staff, the very edge grazing along her left cheek. She spun to the side and darted towards a pair of num-chucks on the other side of the room. She flipped off the wall, grabbing the num-chucks as she went and landed facing her enemy.

"Nice try," Ari practically spat at Glorious, sounding confident but mentally thanking Chase and her apparent powers. Glorious' eyes, so small and piggy, scrunched up into an ugly glare, but she smirked as she saw Ari's bleeding cheek.

"I'm just getting started."

Ari felt the trickle of blood roll down her jaw line but she didn't let it faze her. She wiped it with her sleeve and lowered herself into a battle stance, stretching the chain of the num-chucks. She flicked one end of the num-chuck over her back and stretched out her free hand.

"Bring it!" Ari called across the room, flicking her fingers in a gesture for Glorious to make the first move – something Morpheus had done once in her early training. Glorious leered and chucked her staff away from her hand and walked casually to the wall and wrenched down a sheathed sword from its place. She turned back and walked into the middle of the room. She smiled at Ari and placed a foot back and raised the still-sheathed sword over her head. She didn't move.

"Well?" Ari demanded impatiently.

"After you," Glorious replied.

_She's trying to faze me; does she really think I'm stupid_?

Ari smiled sweetly back.

"I would say 'ladies first', but I'm the only one in this room, I guess, and that's a bit pointless."

While Glorious paused in shock, Ari silently congratulated herself. That was a good one.

"Whores don't count as ladies."

There was silence.

_What did that bitch just call me_? All thoughts and cares of Chase's tame little spar next door evaporated from Ari's head. _That's it_! Ari bared her teeth and cried out as she darted towards Glorious' bulky figure. She swung the num-chucks in the air and aimed at the fingers clutching the blade. Glorious swooped the sword around in an arc and the 'chuck sawed through the air. Ari gasped at her mistake; tried to dodge the attack from behind as Glorious swung the blunted sword, aimed between Ari's shoulder blades.

Ari cried out as the wooden sheath connected painfully and she was sent sprawling to the floor. She mentally slapped herself. How could she be that stupid? Hearing a whoosh in the air, Ari rolled to the side as the sword slammed against the ground merely centimetres away from her head. Taking advantage of the moment, Ari grabbed the sheath and twisted it towards her. Glorious sucked her breath in painfully as her wrist went with the sword. She had no choice but to drop it.

Ari leaped up into a crouching position and flicked the hilt to the side; the cracked sheath slipped off and slid across the matted floor, revealing the sharp silver blade beneath. Standing up she swivelled the sword to get the feel of it. Glorious' eyes widened as she feebly back away, trying to dodge any incoming attacks.

None came.

"Go get a weapon. I want this to be a fair fight."

Glorious looked around the room then back to Ari.

"You want this to be a fair fight? Then put down the sword and fight me!"

"Fine, have it your way." Ari flicked the sword behind her where the force drove it into the wall. She balled her hands into fists and took a deep breath. This might be a little more difficult. Though Ari was quicker, Glorious was definitely stronger. She closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts. She opened them and called out, "Let's begin," and with a cry both ran for each other.

Glorious went to punch Ari but her arm was twisted around her back. Ari used all her strength to fling Glorious forward. As Glorious turned to retaliate, Ari did a spinning kick into her face, boot buckle colliding heavily with her enemy's jaw. Glorious staggered back, clutching at the side of her face, as Ari cart-wheeled backwards and out of the way. After she recovered from the initial shock, Glorious dropped her hand and raised her fist ready to fight.

"From me with lotsa love." Ari blew Glorious a kiss using her middle finger. The bigger, older girl sucked in her split lip and ran at Ari. Ari side-stepped her charge and kicked the back of Glorious, sending her sprawling across the matting as she'd done to her earlier. _I'm so mean_, Ari thought carelessly. Glorious laid there for a second and Ari knew she was formulating something in her hateful head. Ari stood and tried to watch Glorious, but she found her eyes getting drawn to the battle in the next room.

Chase and Ninox were locked in a high-speed hand-to-hand combat. Neither seemed to be losing and neither had the upper hand. Although, Chase was doing pretty well fighting in her knee-high stilettos. Ari shook her head – Chase and her fashion sense.

A movement in front of her brought her attention back to Glorious, who had raised herself to her knees. Ari watched, unsure of the next move. But at that moment, Glorious sprang to her feet, ran and yanked a sword off the wall, and swung the heavy blade at Ari's chest. Ari caught her breath and jumped back instinctively jumped backwards as the blade barely missed her. In the same movement, Glorious raised the sword up above her head, and time seemed to slow. Ari was unarmed. She felt her heart beat faster, pounding in her ears as she watched the blade come down, a shaft of light reflected off the smooth surface.

Ari closed her eyes and raised her hands. Glorious laughed in premature victory as the blade descended, but her eyes widened in shock as her sword stopped in its fatal path just a breath away from Ari's face. She stared in disbelief at the hands that held the blade, Ari's palms flat up against its sides.

"No!" she cried out as Ari opened her eyes. She'd caught it, yay! Knocking the blade to the side Ari coiled into a back flip away from her enemy, kicking Glorious in the chin as she did so. Glorious fell backwards onto the floor as Ari landed smoothly.

But Glorious wasted no time in rolling back onto her feet and storming back to the wall. She moodily kicked at a previously discarded sword as she started to dislodge a heavy wooden club from the wall. Uneasy, Ari started jogging softly towards the older girl. She didn't like to attack someone with their back turned – she knew for a fact Chase would never do it, no matter who it was. But this was Glorious, and Glorious wouldn't flinch at the thought of what Ari planned. Quietly, perfectly as she jogged past, Ari scooped up the sword Glorious had just kicked aside. She picked up her pace, wielding the sword high, ready to bring it down. Glorious nearly had her wooden club down, and Ari didn't like to think of what damage it could inflict. She was almost on top of Glorious now, and it was right then that the older girl noticed her.

_Too late_, Ari hoped, swinging the sword down with all of her strength. Glorious didn't have time to get a good swing, and Ari's blade sliced a long cut into the side of her face as she turned around. Shocked, Glorious threw all of her strength behind a clumsy hit of the club. Ari didn't expect much. She certainly didn't expect to feel the club smash into her abdomen like a car, sending her flying towards the glass partition separating her and Glorious from Chase's fight.

Her insides probably crushed, Ari didn't think she would survive crashing into the partition. It was programmed to be unbreakable. She closed her eyes and felt the first cell of her body touch the glass, wishing so hard that somebody had left a glitch in the programming…

The sound of shattering glass… A tiny scream of surprise (definitely Chase, except that this wall was soundproof…) and Ari kept moving. No splat. No crash. Still airborne. Then _wham_ – straight into the floor, landing sprawled at Chase's feet, little bits of unbreakable glass flying everywhere.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: M-15. It goes up in this chapter from PG-13, as the swearing goes up a few notches. Until now you haven't read anything worse than what you hear in the movies.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' Notes:

Solia: Okay, back to me. In case the end of the last chapter was a little hazy, that was Ari being thrown against a glass wall that is impossible to break – and breaking it. I promise the weird occurrences like this that seem to happen to the girls will be explained in coming chapters.

I start school holidays in a few days, but then I'm moving house, so I still won't be very active in anyway. I'll be thinking about it, though. Delerith and I need to work out a future fate for Glorious – if anyone has any ideas about what we can do with our least favourite character in future chapters, please feel free to either contact us or jot down your idea into your review.

Sad faces for Delerith, who missed out on School Captain, but congrats to us both for making Prefect! Next year we should be incredibly busy, preparing for our O.P.s and being generally good students so we don't get sacked, but we'll try to make time for The Best Homework Excuse Ever, which we really want to complete one day. I'm just warning the readers who actually read this all the time and want updates that next year, updates will be even fewer than they are now. I'm also doing a part-time uni course, and we both work, so yeah. We'll try to write heaps over Christmas.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter Thirteen

Chase held Ninox's hazel eyes in her firm gaze as she parried against his attack. They each fought with identical, elegant swords that Chase didn't know the name of. She expected that they were of the 17th century era, though, and they were very slim and easy to manoeuvre. The weapons made for a fast fight between herself and Ninox, and she lightly pushed him away with her sword, flashing it about in a circle before blocking his next blow.

She knew she was lucky – her sparring partner was here for fun, not for blood, and Ninox always fought fair. She could sense that he wasn't putting his all into the fight because he didn't want to be responsible for hurting a girl. She didn't mind. She was holding back, too, because she wasn't here for blood, either.

Ninox stepped forward for a triple attack – three quick attempts to pretend to slice her up. Chase blocked each one and surprised him by going on the offensive, aiming the blade for his hip. He managed to block it in time, but Chase wouldn't have let it touch him anyway.

"How's your friend going?" Ninox asked as their swords swiped and clanged together, so fast that they made beautiful silver arcs between the two people. Chase smiled as the swords met in the middle and stayed together, each fighter pressing against the other's weapon.

"Good," she answered honestly. She knew without looking that Ari was currently absolutely fine, although she'd had a few knocks. "How about yours?"

"Glorious isn't my friend," Ninox answered, slowly putting more and more weight behind his sword. Chase knew she couldn't win at this. She was nowhere near as strong as Ninox, and nowhere near his weight. If he put more pressure on his sword, she would be forced to drop hers, and may be decapitated. "She's a bitch."

Taking a big gamble, Chase released the pressure behind her sword, dropping her hand as quickly as she ducked underneath Ninox's blade, which swung through the air where her neck had just been. Lucky she was so short, then, and that Ninox was so much taller. He wouldn't have been able to stop that blade from killing her when she dropped her own sword.

"Sorry!" he said instantly, as Chase swiped the sword at his knees. He jumped over it and she straightened in time to defend herself against his downward swing.

"It's true, she is," Chase agreed, blocking his attacks. In just a few moves, she would give her own attack… Three, two, one… Chase pushed one of Ninox's blows away and swung her elegant sword through the air and up to Ninox's neck.

Checkmate.

He had the same idea, and just as Chase stopped her blade from killing him for real, she felt the cool of Ninox's sword lightly touch the side of her throat.

Stalemate.

A tie.

Chase didn't move. She felt a shock in her mind, the part that seemed to know stuff Ari felt. She wanted to look, but knew she shouldn't. Ninox, although she did trust him, did have a sword against her neck, and of course Ari would get getting her arse kicked next door, probably getting back exactly what she gave. Ninox held Chase's gaze.

"Better than losing," he offered, but didn't move.

Beside them, the unbreakable glass wall shattered. Chase pulled her weapon away from her new friend and turned to the crashing sound, prepared to protect herself. To her shock, she saw Ari flying towards her amongst the terrifyingly sharp glass shards. With a small accidental scream, Chase dropped, blade against the ground to save Ari should she land there, her arms and hands covering her face. She knew Ninox was protecting his face with his arms, too. With a solid, painful thump, someone (Ari) landed in front of Chase. The bits of glass tinkled to the floor around them, giving them all a share of little cuts and scratches.

When it felt safe, Chase, opened her eyes and lowered her hands. She was surprised to notice that she hadn't dropped the sword, only lain it flat against the floor. In front of her, Ari was curling into a ball of pain. Chase straightened and glanced around to assess the situation. Ninox was only now lowering his arms from his face and turning back to the girls. Glorious was standing on the other side of the remains of the unbreakable glass wall, a heavy club in her hands and a bewildered look on her face. Ari shuddered a little, and coughed. A mouthful of blood splattered onto the mat, and a few drops ran down her face. Chase saw a tiny move from Glorious and turned back to her. The older girl, now a woman, really, being twenty years old, hefted the club and smirked a little, then started forward with a wilful purpose.

"Stay back, Glorious," Chase warned, feeling bad for stepping over Ari but knowing she would be okay. "Leave it be."

Glorious ignored her completely, and kept coming, determined to get Ari while she was down. Chase wasn't going to let her. Obviously the woman wasn't going to listen to Chase's verbal warnings, but that wasn't going to prevent Chase from fighting her back with everything she had until Ari found her feet.

"Let her come," Ari managed to say, but her voice was weak and pained.

"Shut up, Ari," Chase snapped, sparing her a tiny glance. "Ninox, get her up."

Behind her, Chase heard Ninox kneel beside Ari and talk quietly to her. Glorious kept coming, raising her club like a caveman. Chase braced herself and raised her own sword, determined to protect her friends.

"Yes, Ari," Glorious shouted over Chase as if she wasn't even there. "Get up. Fight."

She started to walk past Chase, but Chase swung with her blade, cutting her lightly across the chest. It was enough to make Glorious freeze, and finally notice that Chase was even there. Chase pretended to stab with her sword, forcing Glorious to jump backwards to save herself. Her piggy eyes narrowed in dislike.

"Back off," Chase said forcefully before Glorious could insult her. She held the sword offensively, threateningly, in case Glorious made any sudden moves. The twenty-year-old angrily swung her club at Chase's head, and the girl ducked, feeling her ponytail almost being caught.

Furiously, Glorious attempted to batter Chase with the club. Dodging each one, Chase knew her elegant sword, however manoeuvrable, wasn't going to protect her against this ridiculous weapon. As Glorious grunted and the club smashed into the floor where the seventeen-year-old had just been standing, Chase quickly sliced upwards, along her opponent's arm. She cut a long line from Glorious' thumb to her elbow, just missing the vital arteries in her wrist. Whimpering in pain, Glorious' strong grip fumbled, and Chase managed to make her drop the club with a sharp jab of her sword's hilt into the back of Glorious' wrist.

"Back off," Chase repeated, even forcefully than before. She raised the sword, poised to attack if need be. Glorious carefully wiped the blood from her arm, but the wound kept bleeding. She looked up at Chase, serious dislike burning in her small eyes. It wasn't pure hatred – that was an emotion reserved only for Ari. But it was near enough.

"You back off," Glorious answered angrily. She took a few steps to the right. Chase kept on her. But behind her, Ari was standing up with Ninox's help, and Chase heard her stumble. She allowed herself to give a tiny glance in her best friend's direction, but it was too much. Glorious' fist snapped out, punching Chase in the side of her jaw. She fell back, but didn't completely lose her balance until Glorious kicked her in the chest and booted the sword aside. In horror, Chase felt the hilt slip from her fingers as she hit the ground.

This was bad. She was down. Glorious scooped something up from the floor and advanced, holding the item like a dagger. It took Chase a moment to realise – it was a very large, very sharp piece of broken unbreakable glass, and Glorious was going to stab her. And probably not stop there.

No smile of achievement, no smirk as there would have been if Chase were Ari, Glorious tightened her grip on the shard and bent to stab Chase in the breast – her heart. Chase might have almost had enough time to move, but she was terrified.

A flash of silver, arcing above Chase. Then the glass shard met the blade of Chase's lost sword. But Chase hadn't moved for it, or grabbed it – in fact, she wasn't holding it at all. Ari was.

No one moved. Glorious and Ari glared into each other's eyes as Chase considered how to get away from the glass shard and sword blade that were testing each other ten centimetres above her.

"She said back off," Ari reminded Glorious, and suddenly Glorious dropped the long shard and sprung backwards. Chase caught the glass before it could stab her, and sat up. Furious, Ari threw her sword at Glorious like a spear and marched towards her enemy. Glorious managed to dodge the blade.

Chase felt a light touch at her shoulder. She glanced up at Ninox, but in that tiny amount of time, Ari had engaged Glorious in combat. She allowed Ninox to pull her to her feet, and together they stood for a moment, watching the furious fight being played out before them.

"Usually such nice people, too," Ninox said in a mock-mournful tone. The fight was slowly moving in their direction. Chase allowed a moment to give Ninox a mildly amused look, but like before, it was the wrong moment to take her attention from the action. Glorious took a flying kick at Ari, which of course Ari ducked, but then the boot was heading straight for Chase. She started to move but knew there wasn't time.

Just when the kick should have connected, Chase opened her eyes and sat forward. She was back in Zion, lying in her chair. Dasne was behind her, disconnecting the plug from her head. Ninox blinked and rubbed his eyes, obviously awake now, too.

"It's too dangerous to have you two in there at the moment," Chiron explained as he removed Ninox's head plug. "Those two are going to kill each other – best you and Chase aren't there to get mixed up with that."

Chase felt a surge of fear in her chest. Ari was alone with Glorious? They had left them alone!

"Are you insane?" Chase demanded, getting out of the chair and hurrying to one of the view screens. She nudged Teardrop so that she could see past her. Glorious and Ari were still fighting, their firm expressions dangerously hateful. "You can't let them kill each other."

"Of course not," Linden, Chase's teacher, said with a soft smile. He was usually such a calming presence. But now his serenity was maddening. "They can come out soon. This gives Captain Glyph a look at your friend's capabilities, and a look at the other girl's abilities, too, if he's interested-"

"No, you don't understand," Chase interrupted worriedly. "They really _are_ going to kill each other. We have to get them out _now_, and separate them."

"Ari and Glorious _do_ hate each other," Dasne agreed, folding her arms. "They always have."

"There's nothing wrong with rivalry," Roux said, closely watching the view screens.

"There _is_ something wrong with my friend either dying or going to jail," Chase snapped. She strode over to Ari's immobile body. "I'm getting her out."

"No!" Roux and one of the technicians who had decided to stay and watch said in unison. Roux continued, "Give them a few more seconds. They can take it."

"No one knows Ari as well as Chase," Morpheus said in his low voice. The atmosphere of the room was getting tenser with each passing second. One of the technicians sighed.

"I still wonder what happened to the glass wall," he said, bewildered. "I _know_ that program is unbreakable – but…"

"But Ari broke it," Chase said, remembering. "Why?"

"It must have been a glitch. Something happened in the program when Ari hit the glass. But I swear I checked that wall out only a few days ago – it was unbreakable."

"No!" Teardrop shrieked in horror. Chase felt her heart skip a beat. What? She was getting concerned – she couldn't feel anything in her mind from Ari at the present moment.

"Glorious has a sword!" Ninox warned loudly, glancing at Chase from his place in front of a viewing screen. Beside Ari, Chase couldn't see what was going on, but, frightened, she squeezed the triggers either side of the plug in Ari's head and pulled it out, severing the connection.

"No!" Ari screamed as she sat bolt upright, clutching her neck. Apparently Chase had disconnected her at the exact moment that Glorious had been about to slice her throat. The room was silent except for Ari's panting breaths. Someone, a random technician of some sort, chose that moment to go to Glorious to let her out, too.

"Where is that fucking bitch!" Ari demanded as she inspected her hand, noting it to be free of blood from her neck. Chase felt Ari's anger flare when Glorious slowly sat up, smoothing her frizzy hair. So Chase could feel Ari's strong emotions here, when they were in Zion together, and inside programmed realities when they were together, but not when they were in separate worlds.

"Looks like I won," Glorious said with a mild smirk. Chase heard a growl emitting from Ari's throat, which had so nearly been slit. Next second, Ari had launched herself across the room and onto Glorious, slamming her fist into her enemy's mouth. Instantly, Ninox, Morpheus and Chase were there, dragging them apart.

"You could have fucking killed me!" Ari screamed as Ninox restrained her arms and lifted her in the air where all she could do was kick in Glorious' direction. "You fucking bitch!" Morpheus held Glorious down as the bigger girl (woman, whatever she was) struggled to get back at Ari. Chase stepped in front of Ari, and immediately her friend stopped kicking. But she didn't stop ranting, now at Ninox. "Let me go, you arsehole, let me down!"

"I'm going to get you, Ari!" Glorious shouted from where she was pinned, strugglingly, to the tech room floor. "I'm going to fucking kill you! You wait! You're dead already!"

"Shut the hell up!" Ari shouted back. Ninox tightened his grip. Chase couldn't believe this was happening.

"Calm down, both of you!" Chiron ordered, but no one listened.

"I'm going to kill you! You fucked-up little whore, you're so dead. I'll kill you and your stupid skank friend…" Glorious continued ranting, but Ari was very, very pissed off now.

"Don't you fucking talk about Chase, you retarded-"

"Ari, enough!" Chase shouted, silencing her friend. "Settle down. Ninox, let her go, I've got her."

Ninox looked unsure.

"But-"

"Let her down. I've got her."

Very hesitantly, Ninox lowered Ari and released her. Everyone in the room seemed to expect an explosion of some kind, but none came.

"Ari, come with me," Chase said firmly, taking Ari's hand and leading her from the room. Neither of them spoke until they were back in their apartment. Chase shut and locked the door and turned to Ari, her eyes dark and burning.

"Before you start-" Ari began, but Chase was louder.

"What in _hell_ was that just now?" she demanded. "I understand that Glorious is a bitch, I understand that she's always clashed with you, I know that she's got horrible hair and I realise that one day someone is going to have to put her out of her misery, but seriously. What was that? Glorious is a bitch, no one can change that. She's always clashed with you, and always will, so just accept it, okay? Her hair is disgusting and if it's been the same for all these years then obviously nothing is going to save it. And yes, one day someone is going to have to kill her, but that someone doesn't necessarily have to be you and it doesn't have to be today."

Ari said nothing. She just stared at Chase as she vented.

"There is no reason to lose your temper like that, Ari. You completely lost control."

"But she said-" Ari argued.

"I heard what she said," Chase continued over top of Ari's argument. "I can understand that you were angry. She was threatening you. But my God, Ari, if we lose those positions on the _Nadir_ because of what you just did, I can tell you right now that I'll kill you, too."

For a moment, Ari was silent. Then: "Actually, she was going to _fucking_ kill me. I think there's a difference in hostility and intensity between the types of killing someone."

Chase allowed herself to smile.

"Thanks for saving my life," she said.

"Thanks for saving _my_ life," Ari answered. They smiled at each other, sisters of circumstance, and hugged each other tightly in forgiveness and understanding.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes:

Solia: Hey, look how fast I'm updating. I'm so proud of myself. Okay, if you have just finished chapter thirteen and have gone on to this one, you should probably know that nearly three months have passed since the end of the previous chapter. Chase and Ari got the job (yay!) and are now flying around the sewers in a hovercraft called _Nadir_. Now the _real_ adventure can begin – and I can finish uploading my other fanfiction, _Déjà Vu_, in which Chase and Ari make an appearance. So to read more Chase and Ari adventures check out the other story. They don't do much but Chase has cool hair so it's all good.

Thanks to Danigrebel, Ninja Neo, Cold Cypher, andii (I love you, hon) and Leanan Sidhe for your great reviews. We really appreciate it. )

Lady Delerith: Hope everyone's having a goodtime. I know I am... HOLIDAYS! Anywaysm our new chappy, it's going to be a bit explanitory so we can get on with out new adventures... and guys . Thankyou once again to all our loyal readers, we lovers you muchly.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter fourteen

Ari eased the insertion needle out of her best friend Chase's cranium plug. The other girl awoke, opening her black-brown eyes.

"That gives the tummy a bit of a jolt still," Chase admitted. She sat up and brushed her brown fringe away from her face. Ari nodded and hung the steel needle up behind the chair her friend sat in. It did still seem weird to wake up in a totally different place as to where you were only moments before, as was what Chase meant. But Ari was agreeing to another thing that surprised _her_ every time she was awoken from a training simulation – the fact that she was waking up on the _Nadir_, the hovercraft she and Chase now lived and worked on.

Three years ago, Ari had been Kye Saunders, a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old living out a normal life in a normal world – that she now knew hadn't existed. That world was the Matrix, a giant computer program that made people plugged into it believe that they were living out their lives in the real world. But Ari had seen the real 'real world', and she knew that the Matrix was nothing but a bunch of green-coded lies. Over the past three months, since being appointed to this post as a crewmember-in-training, Ari had grown to deeply resent the Matrix and all it stood for.

"It gets easier," Lunar, another crewmember of the hovercraft _Nadir_, said as she read the multiple computer screens, which showed the coded version of the Matrix. "Eventually there will be a time where you'll just wake up and accept that this is the reality, and you've left the dream world behind."

"Thanks," Chase said politely, getting out of the chair, although Zion-born Lunar had no idea.

"Where are we going now?" Ari asked. Lunar checked a few screens and consoles.

"Looks like we'll need to pay a visit to Zion to recharge," she answered. "We'll have to ask the captain, though."

"I've seen enough of that place to last me a lifetime," Ari complained. She and Chase had spent the last three years there, taking every opportunity to learn anything that would make them candidates for new trainee crewmembers for hovercrafts. Becoming a crewmember required a lot of hard work and training, but it was the only chance for people inside Zion to get out of the underground-cavern city and do anything remotely exciting.

"It was only three years," Lunar said consolingly. "You spent fourteen inside the Matrix."

"I guess." Ari let it go. She had finally been accepted as a member of one of the ships, and, better yet, Chase, her best friend in the world, ever, had been accepted onto the same post. It was better than she could ever have hoped for. Especially considering how close they'd come to losing it – twice – thanks to Ari's shocking behaviour and lack of restraint.

After settling down from her fight with Glorious, Ari had realised that she had very probably blown her and Chase's chances of ever getting a position on a hovercraft. She had accepted that she deserved to lose it herself, but Chase, having done nothing wrong, could still suffer the consequences, so, swallowing her pride, Ari had resignedly gone to Captain Glyph to apologise for her behaviour and ask that he not punish Chase by dismissing her also.

Impressed by Ari's loyalty to Chase and her ability to accept her fate as consequences of her actions, Glyph had explained that he was definitely taking on Chase, who had displayed admirable patience, loyalty and skill in protecting and calming Ari, and that he also wanted Ari. Glyph said that he approved greatly of the girls' deep bond and their teamwork, an example of which he had never seen before, and also of their intuitive balancing of each other's strength and weaknesses.

"It would be a shame to break up such a harmonised pair," he had said with a smile. "You have your failings, Ari – we all do. But luckily for you, you have someone like Chase to conceal these failings and be strong where you aren't. And she has you. I enjoyed watching the two of you against Miss Glorious – you protect each other in turn. You seem to know each other's minds."

"Chase seems to know my thoughts," Ari had admitted. "I think she has a gift."

"You think she's the only one with gifts, Ari? What about the glass wall in the training simulation earlier? There was nothing wrong with the system. _You_ did something."

"I can't have."

"In any case, Ari, I would hate to be the one to break up a wonderful team like that. I'd like to accept both of you, but you have to learn to restrain yourself. Anger can be useful sometimes in the Matrix, but it's better to let it go. I can't have that on my ship. I believe in you, Ari, and I believe that you are a very talented young woman with a lot to offer the resistance. You have a lot of anger but you're a good girl – you shelved your pride and admitted your faults to help Chase. I'm pleased. It was very mature of you to apologise just now. I'm delighted to accept you and Chase as my newest trainees."

Four days later, the girls were leaving Zion (and that stupid bitch Glorious) behind. They'd been back once since then, about seven weeks ago, and still hadn't been inside the Matrix, but Ari was channelling her inner Chase (ha ha) and remaining patient.

Chase wandered over to the computers and checked out her scores. She had just run through a training program, trying to learn more about fighting skills.

"You did well," Lunar congratulated her. The other girl nodded vaguely, still reading. Ari ignored Chase's results. They were bound to be all but perfect. Chase and Ari always got top scores in training simulations.

She had first met Chase when they were both plugged into the Matrix, but back then they had been Kye Saunders and Sophie Evans, two fourteen-year-old girls. Chase had been another normal teenaged girl with a normal family, which she had also had to leave behind. One of the things that made the two of them so close was that they had been through similar hardships and had been freed at the same time, by the same people.

But it still seemed amazing that their friendship had been born of something so despicable as the Matrix. Ari didn't think she would ever be able to repay Morpheus and the other members of the _Nebuchadnezzar_ enough for freeing her. It was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Even though the real world was nothing in terms of luxury when compared with the Matrix, it felt better to be there, and she could go to sleep at night knowing that everything that she had witnessed that day had really happened. She didn't have a bunch of ignorant people around her that were under the impression that they were her family.

Ari had a brother inside the Matrix, but now she barely thought of him. He wasn't really her brother after all – they weren't born of the same parents, because they weren't born at all. All of that sibling rivalry had been wasted, because they weren't really related. They hadn't been all that close, anyway.

"I think I'll need some more martial arts training really soon," Chase said flatly. She had become very pessimistic about her scores lately. She was never happy with her scores – she always expected better of herself. Ari assumed it was because Chase thought the same as she did – the Matrix was evil, and all the people in there deserved to get out, and the two of them needed to perfect their skills so as to get those people out.

"You got record scores!" Lunar exclaimed, rolling her grey eyes. "Chase, you scored 86 percent!"

"Eighty-six out of one hundred," Ari piped up as she washed the insertion spike.

"That isn't one hundred percent," Chase replied. She sighed. "I'll train more later. I'm too tired now."

"Yeah, go get some rest so that you can fully enjoy the sights of Zion," Ari muttered, following her as she left the Core room of the _Nadir_.

"It's a major tourist attraction," Chase agreed, yawning. "Come one, come all, and see humanity's greatest stronghold – Zion." She grinned weakly. "Sounds lame, doesn't it?"

Ari nodded, but she knew that her friend didn't really hate the city. Neither did she, but they still pretended. Actually, it was amazing. It was super-cool to think that thousands, maybe millions of humans, over a hundred years, had created the underground dwelling with nothing but primitive technology and their hands. But the two girls had spent three years there, with no little holidays or small escapes – it was kind of depressing to be there. It was all that humans had left.

Chase swung around a corner, yelping in surprise. Ari was right behind her, immediately there just in case. The instinct that told her to help Chase was sort of in-built – inside the training simulations, inside of Zion; they had to rely on each other. But it was only Coyote.

"Like to watch where you're going?" the older guy asked. Coyote was about twenty-four or so, another Matrix escapee. He was a really cool sort of guy, a total big brother type – protective, nice, friendly, easy-going, gentle, etc. That was another thing Ari liked about being free. The people she met were always so open and honest. Inside the Matrix everyone was guarded and untrustworthy. The people had no idea who they could trust, but then, they weren't confined to the same hovercraft for months at a time, depending on the same people.

"Sorry," Chase said, tiredly. She forced a smile as Coyote gave her a quick inspection.

"Training?" he asked finally. She nodded.

"Just finished."

"She scored eighty-six," Ari added, pulling on a short curly lock of black hair.

"Can't wait until we get out of Zion," Coyote said wistfully. "After we go in for the recharge, _Nadir_'s going to get a new assignment inside the Matrix. By then, you two should just about be ready for your visits to the Oracle. Then your own assignments."

"The Oracle?" Ari asked excitedly. She couldn't wait.

"Own assignments?" Chase demanded.

"But you never heard that from me," Coyote added hastily. "It's a _surprise_. Okay?"

"We didn't hear a thing," Chase said with a smile. She continued down the corridor. With a quick wave to Coyote, Ari followed her.

She was so excited and nervous about seeing the Oracle, a woman who knew everything, according to Coyote.

Later that day, at mealtime, Ari dropped into her usual place beside Chase. The mess hall, like the rest of the ship, was mainly metallic. The rest of the crew sat there, too, eating their protein-rich, ultra-healthy, ultra-tasteless goo placidly.

The _Nadir_ held a small crew of six. It wasn't a large hovercraft, so six (and captain) was a perfect number for them. Apart from Ari and Chase, there was Lunar, Coyote, Specter, Citadel and the captain, Glyph.

Lunar was the operator, the only Zion-born human on board the ship. She sat beside Citadel, like always, her long strawberry blonde hair tied hastily into a ponytail. She had no plugs, and therefore couldn't jack into the Matrix. But the others couldn't use the Matrix without her sitting at her station watching over them. She had a pointy nose and was kind of bulky, far from petite, although completely lovely.

Her ex-partner, Citadel, sat to her right. His brown hair was worn casually and short. He had escaped from the Matrix at age nine, twenty years ago. Ari didn't know an awful lot about their relationship, but she was pretty sure that for years, Lunar and Citadel had been lovers, even having a daughter, seven-year-old Shelbie, who now lived in Zion with Lunar's brother. Now they had separate rooms, but they remained great friends.

Specter was the oldest member of the crew, older than forty-five, although Ari wasn't sure how much. He had a naturally tanned complexion, and kept his head shaved. And he always wore a gold ring, no matter what. He was a little grumpy, and loved to talk about his military training in Zion years ago.

Coyote was the easiest to relate to. He got along with everyone, understood everyone, and, in turn, everyone liked him. He had messy reddish hair and freckles, and he was tall and a little gangly. Ari just adored his faint Scottish accent.

Captain Glyph was respected by all of these people. He was one of the most relaxed and flexible-natured captains in the Resistance, enjoyed a good joke, but made sure that things went according to the rules and didn't let things get out of order. His light blonde hair was worn tidily in a ponytail and he had amber-brown eyes, like an eagle's. He was athletic and strong, the ideal physical structure for a captain.

Right now he was discussing the trip to Zion for a recharge with Specter, the usual pilot.

"It should only take less than fifteen hours from this depth," Glyph said thoughtfully. "We should download some more training simulations into _Nadir_'s memory banks for the girls."

"Sir, how long will we be in the city?" Specter asked curiously. Both Lunar and Citadel looked up with interest. Ari knew they were looking forward to spending time with their girl.

"Not too long – maybe thirty-five hours," Glyph decided. "That should be sufficient."

"I'm sick of Zion," Ari complained. "What are we going to do after that?"

"Oracle," Glyph said simply. Both girls perked up after that piece of interesting, official news. That would be exciting. They just didn't know to what extent. "New assignment."

The trips to and from Zion were always dead boring. There was nothing to do but clean, and you couldn't watch the others jack into the Matrix. Sure, you could take part in some training simulations, but other than that… Well, it was just worse. No one had much interesting to say or do, so for fifteen hours, no one did anything. Except clean.

Ari loved being in the cockpit when they entered the gates of Zion. She enjoyed watching the giant mechanical doors open, welcoming them inside the underground cavern of a city.

She was even happier when Specter and Glyph offered to let her pilot the ship through the gates and into the docks. She loved any chance to pilot the ship, but they had never given her this difficult opportunity before. They must trust her a lot to let her try.

"I'd love to," she said, truly honoured, and took a seat in the pilot chair. She took a hold of the controls and placed the headset on. Someone was trying to contact them. She opened the line.

"This is the _Nadir_ approaching and requesting entrance into Zion through gate two," Ari said smoothly and without falter.

"_Nadir_ is cleared through gate two, and allowed to dock one," the man on the other end of the line answered. The huge doors at the end of the tunnel opened in the middle, revealing the light behind them, and, very carefully but also confidently, she flew the hovercraft through them and into the metallic docks. She landed perfectly.

Glyph slapped her shoulder cheerfully.

"That was perfect. You'd make a good pilot some day, you know," he said, making her practically glow with pride.

The lot of them filed off the ship into the city. There was a small crowd of people waiting for them.

"Ma! Daddy!" a little girl in the crowd squealed. Little Shelbie, a dark blonde, pointy-nosed, round-eyed seven-year-old angel, bolted free of the crowd. Lunar knelt down and opened her arms to her daughter, catching her in a hug. Citadel grinned and scooped the little girl up as soon as she had broken away from her mother.

Specter's twenty-three-year-old twin son and daughter met him with claps on the back, hugs and cheerful smiles; his daughter was Coyote's latest girlfriend, and she greeted him with a kiss. Glyph smiled upon seeing his wife Lucky in the crowd, with a small bundle in her arms – their three-month-old boy Helix, whose untimely birth was the reason for their first, only and early return to Zion seven weeks ago, when Glyph gave up trying to restrain going home to meet his son.

Ari stood beside Chase, her only family.

"Hello, girls," someone said. Both of them glanced to the left and spotted their other family, Teardrop and Cinnamon Brown, their other two greatest friends in Zion, and also their flatmates of many years.

"You didn't think we'd let you arrive not greeted, did you?" Cinnamon asked with a grin as Ari and Chase hurried up to her and Tear.

"I don't know," Ari said with a grin, clasping Cin's hand in hers and embracing her lightly with the other arm in a tomboyish fashion. Chase and Tear, the sentimentalists, hugged tightly and beamed at each other.

"You two rebels want to come and sit down with the old gang?" Cinnamon asked.

"The old gang?" Chase asked sceptically, releasing Teardrop. "We've been gone seven weeks, and we were never a gang."

"Us, and Alloy…"

Ari nodded and followed, but her mind was still in the ship, where her daydreams of piloting, jacking into the Matrix and visiting the Oracle still awaited her.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes:

Solia: This whole holidays business is working out well – I have heaps of spare time to do basically anything I like, including writing, editing and uploading chapters of this story.

Lady Delerith: WOOT! Another chapter, everyone happy? I like this so you all should like it. Or else shakes fist menacingly. Just one thing. If anyone wants a certain moment/scene/character/s from this fanfic illustrated just give me a hollar in a comment and I'll see what can be done. Enjoy

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter 15

Cinnamon Brown's boyfriend of seven months, an adoring and protective Matrix-born called Alloy, lived with his one roommate, Kris, in a room eight doors down from the girls. Chase and Ari chatted with Cin and Teardrop all the way to their apartment, where they left their belongings, before carrying on down the corridor to the boys' place.

"Welcome back, twins!" Alloy said when he opened his door exactly three seconds after they knocked. He held his arms open expectantly and wouldn't let Chase or Ari enter without giving him a big hug.

"Hey, Al," Chase said as she obliged, embracing him briefly while Ari slipped past them and sneaked into inside. She was glad Cin wasn't the jealous type – Alloy was very affectionate towards anyone he knew Cinnamon cared about, playing along the 'your friends are my friends' theory of relationships. He was great for Cin. He loved her and would do anything for her, and was willing to adopt her friends as his own to ensure they had more in common. He even had nicknames for the four girls – 'twins' for Chase and Ari, 'Doc' for Tear and 'Cinna' for his beloved girlfriend.

Cinnamon was the last to enter; she closed the door behind her and waited patiently for her boyfriend's attention. Alloy playfully scruffed up Teardrop's beautiful curly blonde hair as she walked in. She shot him an amused frown over her shoulder, but he had already set his sights on Cin. She boldly stepped into his waiting arms and met him halfway in a passionate kiss.

"Aw," Ari teased as she plonked down onto the floor against the far wall. Chase and Teardrop slid down either side of her, smilingly watching the couple. But as Chase reached the floor, she felt her smile fade. It wasn't that she was jealous. It wasn't that she wanted Alloy – not at all. She just wanted what they had. For the past six months or so, she'd started to notice that she missed her family less, but wanted _someone_ for her own. Throughout her entire childhood, Chase had never once imagined growing up and not getting married. In every daydreamed prospective future, she'd been a rich, well-respected member of society (usually a doctor, forensic scientist or software tycoon) with a perfect, supportive and faceless husband and two adoring, talented daughters.

Lately, here in Zion, that ideal future seemed very remote and unlikely, especially considering that Chase was seventeen and had still never been in a proper relationship.

"Is it those gorgeous chicks from down the hall again?" a voice asked from the bathroom. Chase and the other single girls grinned, and Cinnamon and Alloy broke apart.

Kris, Alloy's roommate, was an open-closet gay. He was twenty years old, incredibly funny, sweet and dear to them all. He also insisted on calling them all 'Gorgeous'.

"If he wasn't gay I'd so like to join him in his closet." Ari winked at Chase and stared up at the bathroom door where Kris came out. "What'd you think, Kris, you game?" Ari called up to him and wiggled her eyebrow playfully. A Cheshire grin spread across his delightfully dark face.

"Damn, if only, hey, gorgeous?" Everyone broke out laughing about this, except for Chase who just looked at her dear friends.

Chase often felt slightly guilty for Cin and Teardrop. Because of their affiliation with Chase and Ari, most people wanted little to do with them, either. When Chase and Ari were away with the _Nadir_, they were pretty alone. Thankfully Cinnamon had Alloy, and Teardrop had her old friend Ricka and Ricka's baby son, and they both had Kris. Teardrop also had quite a few friends from before Chase and Ari had even come to Zion.

The girls spent most of the day with Alloy and Kris but Chase couldn't help but notice everyone stare at the 'twins'. She felt sick. She'd almost forgotten since her last visit to Zion how it felt to be her. To be one of the Twelve. And she wished, more than ever, that she could just be close to normal again.

The next day, after sad goodbyes, Chase was to be found sitting alone in the Core of the _Nadir_, tightly braiding five strands of string she'd found in their apartment in Zion (at her and Ari's request, their residency with Teardrop and Cinnamon was not to be filled, so they could stay there whenever they came back to Zion). She'd been plaiting for about fifteen minutes now, almost unconsciously, while she was deep in pessimistic thought, and her creation was starting to look something like an unfinished friendship bracelet.

Ari entered with Citadel. The brown-haired twenty-nine-year-old sat down at the computers, but Ari, spotting Chase, walked over to her and sat down on the floor beside her. For a moment, neither one spoke, until Ari noticed the braid.

"Cool. What is it?" she asked.

"No idea yet."

"Friendship bracelet?"

"I guess it could be." Chase joined the ends of the braid so it was a circle. "Yeah, I guess so. I wasn't really paying attention. I was just bored."

"I have a game you two might be interested in playing," Citadel said, holding up a small floppy disk. Both girls stood and walked over, intrigued. "It's a two-player game. It works on developing teamwork skills. Interested?"

"Yeah, sure," Ari said, looking to Chase, who nodded. She slipped the braided friendship bracelet into her pocket. "Can I have one of those when you finish?"

"Huh?" Chase asked as she sat down in one of the chairs.

"Can you make one of those friendship bracelet thingies for me, too?" said Ari. She plugged Chase in and then sat down in her own chair. "I never worked out how to braid with more than three strings. Plus… I never really had any friendship-bracelet-worthy friends as a kid."

Chase felt herself smile. She wasn't surprised. Friendship bracelets were up there with slumber parties, truth-or-dare and the girls-only, boys-suck-for-breaking-your-heart-darling, chocolate-consuming movie nights. Unlike Chase, Ari was not a girly-girl.

"Yeah, sure. I'll teach you if you like."

Before Ari could answer, they were loaded back into the Construct. Ari seemed to forget the previous conversation as they stood together in the vast whiteness.

Chase waited for the simulation, glancing over herself. Naturally, knee-high black boots decked her feet and lower legs. The short denim skirt she wore hid a very small portion of her thighs. Curious – she rarely got denim now. It was usually some other fabric. And she had a sleeveless black top.

The best thing about this Construct was that even though it gave her a different outfit each time, it always kept to her personal style – girly and elegant.

Ari always got her style, too – punk and heavy. Chase thought how she could play around with the settings to give Ari a little wardrobe change next time. Her hair was mahogany purple, wavy and secured in a slick, low ponytail. Neither girl had been given sunnies.

The simulated world dropped in all around them. It was a dank and dirty basement with cement floor and walls. Old, dry blood spattered the colourless walls. Weak sunlight filtered through the small, dusty window at the top of one wall. Dust floated in the air, catching sunlight sometimes.

Chase slowly drew back closer to Ari.

"Ew, gross," she muttered. "Why on Earth would we ever get into a place like this?"

"Yeah, Chay, you might catch something," Ari said jokingly.

Before them, at their feet, two weapons appeared – a Mac 12 (and two rounds) and a long, smoothed stick, like those used in martial arts movies. Chase leaned down and retrieved the gun and the rounds. Ari crouched beside the stick and lifted it, examining it.

"How cool is this?" she asked delightedly. "Who would have guessed that we had these things on our weapons list?"

Chase looked up suddenly as she heard nearby yelling and heavy footsteps. Ari stood quickly, holding the stick.

"I guess we have to defend ourselves and get out of here," she suggested. Chase didn't answer. Instead, she braced herself, ready for the fight that was surely about to begin. One foot before the other, a classical still-action stance that Chase liked to employ.

"You fend them off, I'll cover you, like usual," she said, checking the gun for rounds. It was full. She shoved the other two into her belt behind her.

The footsteps were just above them, rhythmic and heavy, like many armed guards were headed straight for the dusty old stairs on the other side of the room.

"Ready?" Ari asked, bearing her staff. She'd had no real training in the use of the things as far as Chase knew, but maybe she'd watched enough movies to bluff it.

"Sure."

The first men came into sight, barging down the stairs. They were ancient samurai warriors of some sort, complete with machetes and swords. But before the three could reach the basement floor, the stairs actually collapsed. Surprised, Chase must have let her guard down, because the next thing she knew, a small horde of machete-bearing warriors burst from the dust of the ruined stairway, slashing their weapons at Ari. In defence, Chase's friend brought the staff up to fend them off. She swirled the staff and in doing so smacked a man in the nose. Her next movement was to agilely spin and stab the end of the stick into the next man's stomach.

All of this before Chase thought to react. She brought the gun up to eye-level and fired into the dust, where untold amounts of warriors were dropping into the basement from the above floor.

Ari had dealt with four of the samurai warriors by the time Chase next glanced at her. The dust was settling – a pile of dead and fatally injured warriors was building up on top of the broken stairs. More were dropping in. There would be an untold number of these things.

Still, Ari was doing great. A simple staff became a violent weapon in her apparently skilled hands. She was doing great at defending them both.

Chase fired again into the dust, killing whoever dropped into the basement before they got to the cement floor. She missed one. He ran at her. Ari was preoccupied. Chase turned her gun to the man's chest and held down the trigger. His body jerked violently every time a bullet hit him.

"Chase!"

Quickly, Chase spun around to Ari. Her friend had been forced onto her knees by the particularly strong warrior. She had the staff above her head, braced against the sharp machete that would slice through her should she give.

Chase had barely taken a step in their direction when the man lifted his sword, lifting the pressure from Ari's staff and taking her by surprise. He kicked the staff from her hands, leaving her defenceless.

Chase turned her gun to his forehead and squeezed the trigger. He fell back, dropping his machete beside his would-be victim, Ari.

Turning back to the broken stairs, Chase shot a few of the newer enemies before lifting the staff with the toe of her boot and kicking it into the air. Ari reached up and caught it. Chase grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet as she reloaded her gun.

"Thanks," Ari muttered, tightening her hands on her staff. There was no need for it right now. Chase's gun was keeping the samurai men at bay. "We have to get out."

Without speaking, Chase shot twice at the window. Ari ran for it, stuffing her staff through before climbing out herself. Chase followed, still shooting at anyone threatening who cared to drop in. She didn't have time to climb through like Ari had. She wasn't tall enough. She kicked a wooden crate over to the window, used it as a step, and pulled herself through the window much quicker than Ari had struggled through.

Ari caught her arm and pulled her free of the room. She already had the staff in her hand. Chase got to her feet and shoved the gun into her belt beside the final round.

Now they were trapped in a backyard with six-foot fences.

"Great – does that stick double as a pole-vault?" Chase asked.

"It's a combat staff," Ari said. She approached the fence and quickly examined it. "I reckon you could shoot a hole through this wood, but it'd take a while."

"We'll just have to free our minds," Chase said, backing up until she was pressed against the far wall. Ari got out of her way. Carefully regulating her breathing, Chase allowed all doubt to die within her and _knew_ that she could somersault over a six-foot-fence.

She kick-started herself from the fence and bolted for the end one. Before she reached it she fell into a perfect front-walkover and then sprung into the air, performing a high somersault that landed her on her feet on the other side.

"Come on!" she called to Ari. She looked around. She was in a lonely, wealthy-looking street much like the one she'd grown up in. She felt a tiny prick of homesickness.

Ari's 'combat staff' landed on the manicured grass beside her and Ari herself followed.

"Let's hurry," she said. She looked around as she retrieved her stick. "Are we in a show home village?"

Chase laughed and started jogging down the street.

On this street, there was only one car. It was parked along the side of the road. Distantly, the sound of many approaching law enforcement sirens…

"Jesus, what have we done?" Chase muttered to herself as she started moving faster. She and Ari might have run right past the car, if it hadn't been for Ari realising that nothing could be taken for a coincidence in training programs. Like the weapons in the basement, a car parked along their path would be there for a reason.

It was unlocked and both girls knew how to hotwire a car.

"I am so driving," Ari said, running a hand along the roof. Chase got into the passenger-side seat and leaned across to look at her friend through her window.

"So get in and drive, and no bad corners."

Ari opened her door and grinned. Chase put her seatbelt on.

"You're such a girl, Chasey," Ari teased. "I'm not a bad driver."

Chase laughed sarcastically.

"Put your seatbelt on," she instructed. Ari pulled a face and sighed in frustration, but did as she was told. Chase found that having a gun in her back was not incredibly comfortable, and while Ari fiddled with the wires underneath the steering wheel, Chase pulled the pistol free and left it on her lap.

"If I'd stayed in the Matrix, I probably would have become a mechanic," Ari commented as the car hummed to life. It was an older car, but in surprisingly good condition. "Mainly to upset my parents, but also because I love cars."

"What did your parents want you to do?" Chase asked as Ari slammed her foot down on the accelerator. Both girls' heads hit the headrests as the car sped forward. "Hey! Not so fast!"

"Who knows? They never told me. Something where I could be away for months at a time, I guess."

"Your parents couldn't have been that bad, Ari," Chase said, glancing in the mirror on outside of her door at the police racing around a corner after them.

"You never met them."

Chase decided not to push it. Ari sped around a corner. They way she and Chase were thrown to their right would have made anyone watching assume they were taking a sharp turn, but it was nothing sharper than a 90 degree left turn onto an empty main road. It was just Ari's insane driving.

Both girls, though too young to have learnt to drive in the Matrix, were well trained in motor vehicle control. They had both taken virtual driving lessons for cars (Glyph had only planned on giving them the program for left-hand-steering-wheeled cars, but both girls had insisted on learning to drive with right-hand-wheeled cars, too, like they were in Australia), trucks and motorbikes, and planned on downloading the motorboat program next.

Suddenly, Chase noticed movement ahead on the road. She and Ari leaned forward simultaneously, squinting despite their already exceptional eyesight, and realised what it was at the same time.

"A roadblock," Chase said needlessly as Ari changed gears, speeding up. "What are you doing? There's got to be ten police cars there, lined up – there's no way we can crash through."

"I know."

Chase sighed, deciding to just trust her friend, and watched as the roadblock sped impossibly closer. If Ari insisted on driving straight into those cars, they would be completely smooshed. And that wasn't even a word.

"Hang on," Ari muttered, giving Chase an instant to check her seatbelt, before turning the wheel sharply and redirecting the little car down a partially concealed dirt road to their right. As they bumped along at top speed over the uneven ground, they heard the sirens of the roadblock start up as the police gave chase.

"This isn't fun," Chase commented, trying to brush her fringe out of her eyes every single time it was jolted out of place.

"But you're not bored now, are you? Not spacing out making little bracelets."

"I guess not." Chase finally gave up and tucked her fringe behind her ear, which she should probably have done to start with, except that she knew it didn't look as good like that. "So. Where are we going?"

"How should I know? Does this car have a RefIndex? Check the glove box."

Chase opened the compartment above her lap and looked in it for a book of city maps.

"Nothing."

"Do they even have RefIndexes outside of Australia?" Ari asked suddenly as she swerved dangerously to avoid a broken tree stump that, judging by its battered appearance, looked like it had not been avoided so well in the past.

"It stands for 'Reference Index', so I'm sure they would," Chase answered, carefully checking underneath her seat. "They'd at least have maps, wherever we are, right?"

"Take the wheel for a sec." As Chase grabbed the wheel and kept it steady, Ari quickly ducked down and felt around underneath her seat. She sat up almost immediately with a folded-up map in her hand, which she dropped onto Chase's lap the same moment that she took the steering wheel back.

"Good girl," Chase said, unfolding the map. It was only an A4 sheet of paper with a few roads marked on it. It showed the house they'd started off in, and the street it was on. That joined an off-street (from which the police had first appeared) and the other end joined the main road the roadblock was on. A centimetre before the roadblock was this twisty little dirt road, and at the end of this was a car park, which belonged to a large shopping centre. This was a very simple map, which was good, because Chase sucked at reading maps.

"It seems we're going shopping." Chase quickly informed Ari of their apparent destination.

"Shopping?" Ari asked, pulling a face. The road was smoothing out and the huge shopping centre was visible ahead. "I hate shopping. It's so pointless."

"And you call yourself a teenage girl?" Chase asked in mock disgust. "This might be the point of the exercise. It will be good for you."

They had reached the parking lot. It was nearly full, but still, no actual people. In her search for a spare parking space, Ari very nearly clipped a few other cars. She found one and zoomed into the 'disabled' space. They both undid their seat belts and shoved open their doors in record times, snatching for their semi-lost weapons (Chase's gun was now on the floor beside her feet, and Ari's 'combat staff' was somewhere in the backseat).

"Get inside the shop," Ari said, starting to run, keeping her head down as the police cars entered the car park. "A gunfight in a parking lot isn't much fun. I've done it and I used a jeep to win."

Chase thought this was a weird thing to say, until she noticed that every other car here was a small, less-than-hardy vehicle. Nothing like a jeep, anyway. She bolted after Ari.

The automatic glass doors called Chase in, and she hurried inside the shopping centre, the fully expected wash of comfortable air-conditioning cooling her instantly. The shops. There was nothing so familiar as this world.

"I hate shopping," Ari grumbled, as the glass doors closed behind her. She darkly eyed a nearby clothes rack. Chase checked outside. The police had vanished, no longer relevant to the program. They had just been there to pursue the girls to this place.

"Citadel wouldn't chuck us into a program… just to shop – would he?" Chase asked, unconsciously sifting through the clothes on the first rack. Someone walking past bumped her, and she realised suddenly that this huge store was bustling with crowds of random people, just shopping, going about their daily lives. Hopefully there was no gunfight in here, either. She wouldn't want to kill anyone, even if, as with these people, they weren't real.

"I doubt it. There must be something else here," Ari said as a woman with two early school-age sons gave her a nasty look. Ari was still holding her combat staff. The little boys were pointing and whispering excitedly. Chase overheard 'Samurai warrior princess' from the older one and smiled, subtly hiding her handgun before the mother-of-two or either of her sons noticed _that_. The last thing she wanted was a mass panic.

Chase used her few moments of peace to examine some of the jeans on the rack beside her. She was disappointed, however; they were all high-waisted jeans with disturbing fluorescent piping and stitching.

"How old is this program?" she asked, sincerely disgusted. She put the jeans back and backed away.

"Older than you – but still young enough to injure you," a man nearby said. The girls turned to look. Behind three old grannies (who were tutting and looking distastefully at Chase's miniskirt as though it were a personal insult to them and their era of concealing oneself respectfully) stood a salesman, his face open and friendly, but his innocent, round eyes narrowed a little mischievously.

"Is it him?" Ari asked under her breath. Chase nodded, quite certain.

"Think so," she whispered back, adjusting her footing, readying herself. This would hopefully be a hand-to-hand combat, in which she and Ari could team together against their common foe.

The girls were prepared – they were waiting for an attack. Nothing. The salesman blinked innocently. Then his face began to contort, his mouth opened as though in helpless pain. Chase and Ari stared as his uniform became a suit and his mischievous yet innocent eyes were covered by a pair of dark glasses.

An Agent!

Chase didn't stop to think. Her mind was too full of images anyway – images of a suited man leaping down from a treetop, his hands outstretched, reaching for Ari's throat. That was _not_ happening again, not here. She snatched out her handgun and raised it, squeezing the trigger. Her aim was perfect. A stream of bullets pounded into the salesman's forehead, less than a centimetre off centre. His transformation ceased, and he dropped, salesman once again.

All of this within a second.

And then the people started to scream, panicked.

"Go Chasey!"

Chase opened her eyes and found herself back in the Core of the _Nadir_, Citadel beaming at her from his place at the computers.

"Was that program meant to be so short?" Ari asked, trying to pull her plug out by herself. A pair of hands did it for her, and she looked behind her. "Captain. Were you watching us?"

"I was," Glyph agreed, disconnecting Chase as well, "and I've never seen that simulation played out like that before."

"How were we meant to play it?" Chase asked, sitting up. "We had to guess."

"You got the first bit right – with that first fight," Citadel explained, smiling. "But then you… exceeded the programs expectations. Most people don't see that dirt road until they reach the roadblock. Usually, you're forced to tackle the cops before escaping down the dirt road, and you face them again in the parking lot, before the showdown with the agent in the shops."

"Oops," Ari muttered, going red. "I'm sorry."

"No!" Glyph said, laughing. "It's excellent. You outsmarted a program. That's a good thing. You'll need that in the Matrix, against Agents and so forth."

"Chasey took care of that Agent," Citadel said, almost proudly.

"I've never seen anyone dispatch the Agent so fast," Glyph said smilingly. "Then again, for most recruits, it's the first time they've ever seen an Agent. You two have had previous experience with the monsters. You also have shockingly fast reflexes. The program shuts down when you destroy the Agent, that's why it was so short, Ari," he added. "Chase got rid of him before he could get started on you."

The girls sat in silence for a few moments. Glyph kept smiling at them.

"I think you're both ready."


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes:

Solia: I'm waiting for my brother to finish cooking lunch (an act which here means 'burn icky party-pies beyond recognition of their usual, disgusting forms'). Nah, he can actually cook, unlike me, and he's allowed into the kitchen, so he's making us both lunch, which means I have to eat what he gives me. In the meantime I'm bored, so I'll just waste my spare time by uploading the next chapters of my stories. It's time now for the ORACLE VISIT! Yay! I'd better finish writing the next chapter so… That was the alarm for the oven! Lunch is ready. Okay, I'll finish the next chapter fast so you can all read it. But not today. Star Wars III is playing upstairs… It calls…

Lady-Delerith: Next chappie came quick didn't it Hope you all like it.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter 16

Ari was practically shaking with excitement as she sat back in her chair about to jacked into the Matrix _for the first time since being freed_. Lying in the chair beside her, Chase shot her a quick, anticipating smile as Lunar slipped the needle into her cranium plug. Chase relaxed and stared up at the ceiling.

Ari felt and heard a slight metal-against-metal scratching sound as Coyote put a connection needle into her own plug. She felt it lock.

"Thanks," she said, trying to relax like Chase had. She closed her eyes. Around her, she could still hear the voices of her crewmembers, and the sounds of Coyote, Glyph and Specter being plugged in, too.

"Okay, we're ready," Citadel said, as he apparently plugged in the last person.

The sounds of the real world disappeared instantly, and when Ari opened her eyes, she was standing in the Construct between Chase and Glyph.

The captain flicked out his phone while Ari quickly inspected herself. Her hair was naturally black, but in the Matrix, when she had been freed, it had been dyed to a mahogany purple. For the last three years, each time she had entered an exercise program she had enjoyed the cool changes to her hair. Sometimes it was a purple ponytail, sometimes it was black, and sometimes it was black with purple streaks (her personal favourite). And she never knew if it was going to be curly, wavy or straight. She didn't know why it happened, but in truth, she didn't really care.

In the real world, Chase's chocolate brown hair was dead straight to her shoulders. Here, in the artificial world of the Construct loading program, it seemed a little longer, but it was always in a slick, very high and sophisticated ponytail, with a perfect side-swept fringe.

"Yeah, thanks," Glyph said after putting in his order with Lunar. Ari took a step to the side as the infinite rows of shelves appeared in the distance. Within seconds, the endless shelves had arrived, speeding past them like trains followed by a gust of wind. Chase, who always appeared here in a short pleated black miniskirt, immediately had her hands just below her hips, holding the skirt down. Served her right for managing to kick ass in a miniskirt while Ari had long decided on flare pants.

At least they both agreed on high-heeled boots (Chase's higher than Ari's because of Chase's ongoing war with her height) and the fact that mothers were wrong – it IS possible to run in high shoes.

The shelves stopped immediately, and Ari's black curls, which were, for once, free, settled. The shelves were full of guns of all types.

"I'm so glad I passed that final examination," Chase said, beginning to sort through one shelf with Specter. She held up a small automatic. "I wouldn't have done it without one of these."

"I don't expect much trouble today, but I can't promise anything," Glyph said, choosing a much larger gun than either girl would ever bother carrying around. Ari took her pick and slipped it behind her into its sheath. She pulled her jacket over it and shrugged it into place.

Once everyone was armed, Glyph gave a subtle nod to the infinite white distance, and Lunar sent them in.

The whole whiteness disappeared, and Ari was almost instantly standing in a dark, dusty room with everyone else. Everything looked, smelt and sounded real, and yet… it wasn't.

It was the Matrix.

Glyph took out his phone and pressed a button.

"We're in," he said, before immediately ending the call and pocketing the phone. He looked around at his crew. "Come on."

The captain led the lot of them down the stairs of the big, square building. It had many old rooms, most of which were closed off by rickety slatted boards, and the stairs just went down and down. The floor at the bottom was black and white checked.

At one point, Ari caught Chase's gaze, and they shared an excited grin. They were back in the Matrix after three years. So far it was no different. But they still had one storey to go before they were on ground floor, and then they would go outside… it would be so nice to feel a breeze again. Not that there were no breezes in exercise programs, of course. But this would be real – except not.

When they reached the ground level, Glyph led them out the back door. Ari followed, slowing down as she ventured outside into the soft afternoon sunlight. She took the hand railing in her hand as she walked down the concrete steps, looking around in wonder.

Everything – the railing, the steps, the light breeze gently lifting Ari's curls from her face – felt so real, just the same as in the real world. In the last three years, Ari had somehow forgotten that the Matrix felt no less real than any place in Zion. It was programmed to be totally believable. There was no real reason to believe that it wasn't real.

Unless you were someone like Chase and Ari. They had been outsiders no matter where they had gone, always being strangely knowing and having the oddest philosophy. Lucky for Chase, her family had accepted her despite seeing the obvious differences. Ari hadn't been so lucky – her family had ignored her, kind of like Matilda in the book. Then someone kind had found her and taken her away.

Specter and Coyote stayed at the doors to the building while the girls followed Glyph out of the trashy, littered area to the street.

Ari's attention was drawn to a loud wolf whistle from nearby. She and Chase glanced over their shoulders and spotted a homeless-looking young man sitting in a pile of trash and discarded pizza boxes waving at them. His eyes were crossed and assorted used syringes and bottles surrounded him, strongly suggesting that he was under influence of either alcohol, some drug, or all of the above.

Ari rolled her eyes and turned away from the bum. Chase gave him a dark, cold glare before doing the same.

"Did you ever get the feeling that maybe you should be wearing something more modest?" Chase asked, dropping her ice-princess act as soon as she was out of sight of the homeless bum and nervously tugging at her skirt.

"No," Ari said, smirking. She knew that Chase was talking about herself, but she couldn't resist. "Nah, I can't say I have. Coz, see, I'm never stupid enough to wear a pathetically short skirt while walking in alleyways."

Chase shot her a half-annoyed, half-amused look.

"There's nothing wrong with a short skirt," she said. "Appearance and attire does not determine the self. And I can take care of myself."

Glyph had led them to the street. Here there were dozens of unattended cars. The captain had a hacked key in his pocket, which he used to unlock a dirty beige car. Ari and Chase got into the backseat without question. Taking cars was commonplace. There had been a time when both girls (particularly Chasey) would have panicked over this, but that time was long past.

As Glyph started the engine, Ari let her forehead touch the cool glass of the window. They drove for about two minutes in silence.

"It's so nice to be back," Chase muttered. Ari sat up and looked across at her. She also had her head rested against her window.

"Why?" Glyph asked, glancing at her in his mirror as he slowed at the traffic lights.

"Oh, I like the real world better," Chase promised, straightening. She smiled playfully across at Ari and added, "It's just that here, there are cute guys. Or at least, there used to be."

"Did you have many boyfriends?" Ari asked, realising that in three years of friendship, she'd never asked this question before.

"Um, why?" Chase asked, rolling her eyes and smiling. "Let me refresh your memory – all-girls high school, three sisters who also attended the same school and therefore never brought home male friends, and then, on top of that, I was an outcast from society. Does that answer your question?"

Glyph and Ari chuckled.

"How about you?" Chase asked. Ari held her hands up and shook her head.

"Let's not even go there," she said.

The car stopped and Glyph got out. Ari and Chase did the same. They were in another backstreet alley, in front of a dirty little apartment building.

"The Oracle lives here?" Ari asked, surprised. It was a horribly old, run-down place. Glyph nodded and led them inside.

In the foyer, a homeless-looking man sat in the waiting seats, surrounded by old newspapers and other assorted litter. He looked like he might be blind, but he shared a nod and smile with Glyph as the rebels passed. Glyph pressed the button for the elevator doors to open. After a few seconds, they did, and two middle-aged, frumpy women stepped out, giving them all disdainful looks.

"There're always funny people here, Doreen," one said to the other in a loud whisper. "Come and go… I'll show you to the door…"

They left quickly, and Glyph stepped into the narrow lift, followed by the girls. The doors closed.

"Funny people," Ari scoffed, while Chase lifted her foot and checked the bottom of her boot, muttering about catching something from the germs in this place.

"I guess we do stand out here. We're actually clean."

Ari giggled. Chase was a nice, compassionate girl… But her words sounded so shallow and superior.

"How does the Oracle survive in this place?" Chase asked, taking a half step away from the wall of the moving elevator. No one bothered to answer her. A moment later, the lift bell rang, and the doors opened to a dingy creamy-beige hall. Glyph led the girls down it, not speaking. Ari ignored the ugly graffiti, which also covered the walls downstairs, and tried to see why an Oracle would live here. Maybe there was something special about this building. She couldn't see anything special.

Glyph stopped in front of a door, completely ordinary and no different to any other beige door in the hallway.

"Open it," he offered, indicating the door handle. Chase didn't want to touch anything here (germ freak) so Ari shrugged and turned the handle. She pushed the door open. A few feet from the door stood a pregnant woman with braided hair and a white cotton dress. She had pretty coffee-coloured skin, and she looked very natural in her shift dress.

"I was just about to let you in," she said, smiling. "Ari and Chase? The Oracle's been expecting to meet you two for a while now. Please, come in." Once the three were inside the small foyer, she closed the door and indicated a waiting bench. "We shouldn't be too long, Glyph. Girls, come with me." She led them through a hall and a bamboo curtain into a sitting room. An older, short African-American woman sat here, quietly smoking in her chair. The pregnant woman indicated for the girls to take a seat before leaving them.

"Ari and Chase," the older woman said with a smile, taking a slow drag on her cigarette. Ari carefully dropped onto a couch beside Chase. "I suppose you're wondering who the hell I am and how I know your names. I suppose you'll also be surprised to discover that I'm the Oracle."

Ari swallowed, relaxing. She'd been expecting a gypsy elder with a shawl and crystal ball. A grandmotherly woman with frizzy hair and a floral apron was much easier to feel comfortable around. It would be nice if she didn't smoke, though. Ari hated cigarette smoke – her older brother's room used to be full of it.

"Okay, fine, I'll stop," the Oracle said, picking up an ashtray and squashing the cigarette. She replaced the tray onto the table. "I know it makes you uncomfortable, Ari."

Chase shot Ari a confused glance. She looked grateful, too. Chase resented smokers.

"Anyway, to business," said the Oracle. She leaned back in her chair, surveying the two girls carefully. A pair of glasses hung around her neck and she put them on. "So. I finally meet Chase and Ari, the first success in freeing two minds from the Matrix at once. Right?"

"Um, yeah," Ari said, sitting a little straighter. Chase studied her hands. Heaps of people in Zion brought that up all the time, calling them 'mind twins' for being 'reborn' at exactly the same time.

"I suppose the fame has faded now, though?" the Oracle asked. Ari nodded. "That's good, then. And you both like working for Glyph and the Resistance?"

Two more nods. The Oracle studied them again.

"You two don't need me," she said suddenly. "Most of the time, if one of you has a problem, the other would just balance it out. If one of you has a weakness, it's the other's strong point. That's why you two make such a good team. And as you get older, and wiser, it'll become easier for both of you. I mean, look at you now."

Both girls glanced at each other, far from comprehending. They waited for the Oracle to continue.

"You want guidance?" the older woman asked. "Your first assignment will be interesting – easy to convince, easy to free, easily adapted… but the cutest thing you'll have ever seen." To this the Oracle gave a little chuckle which wheezed towards the end. "To reach the end, to reach your real potential and actually make your choices, _you_'ll have to remember what she means to you" (here the Oracle gave Ari a sharp look and nodded at Chase, where her gaze remained) "and _you_'ll have to finally let go. That's your real problem, Chase – you just can't let go of the past."

Ari rubbed her palm along her thigh nervously.

"You mean I'm going to backstab Chase?" she asked with a nervy laugh. "That's ridiculous."

"You'll have to put a price on this friendship, kid. How much does it mean to you? It's nice to see a friendship this tight, though. Most rebels I meet have long decided that loyalty to friends comes third to loyalty to work and love."

"You're wrong," Chase said suddenly. Ari glanced at her, willing her to shut up. You couldn't tell the Oracle that she was wrong! The older woman lowered her face but didn't break eye contact with Chase. "I already have let go."

"You think you have, but Chase… Sophie…"

"I'm not Sophie any more," Chase said strongly.

"You'll be Sophie until you can release your hopes to free your sister. Chase, you know she can't be saved," the Oracle added gently. "You refuse to give up, but just accept it, and you'll be better off for it."

Chase sat back in her chair, looking away. Ari fidgeted. She hadn't known that Chase was still hanging on to hopes to see Carrie again. She'd thought Chase was years over it, but apparently not.

"You two didn't come here to be made miserable," the Oracle said with a sigh. "I guess discovering that your new job is going to strain your friendship is a bit of a slap in the face. But you know what I like to do when I feel upset?"

Ari and Chase both shook their heads.

"I get a chocolate mud cake, covered in cream and icing, and watch a good old soapie for the evening. Trust me, it's the best thing to take your mind off your problems." The old woman winked, then pulled herself to her feet with a bit of effort. "And I should tell you now – beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Ari blinked. What was _with_ these riddles?

"Well, I've finished my cupcakes," the Oracle said, starting for the kitchen. The girls stood and hesitantly followed. The kitchen was small and quite old. The smell of plain cupcakes warmed the air. Both girls stopped and stood in the doorway. The Oracle pulled oven mitts onto her hands and removed the cupcake tray from the oven. She showed them to Chase and Ari. "What do you think?"

"They look nice," Ari offered. They did – they were plain with melted chocolate chips.

"Go on, take one. You'll feel better."

The girls hesitantly took a cupcake each. Chase stared at hers while Ari took an experimental bite.

"They're really nice," she told the Oracle.

"Good." The woman smiled. "Now off you go. The faster you get this operation over and done with, the faster everything will go back to normal."

Ari and Chase nodded and started for the door.

"One last thing."

They turned back.

"I know this meeting hasn't been much help for you, but you'll be back before too long. I promise you right now that you'll both become vital to the Resistance," the Oracle said kindly. "I don't know what they'd do without you."


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13. The language here isn't any worse than you hear in the movies.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes:

Solia: Sorry for the wait! This chapter was really difficult to write for some reason. I couldn't work out how to end it, and even my chapter-Nazi-ing wouldn't force an ending out of Delerith. So we had to improvise and just end it where we got up to.

YAY the real adventure is starting. Jai/Stark has entered the plot! He is a MAJOR plot device that the entire story originally centred off before we got more creative and attached to our respective characters. NOTE: That means we've been planning to add this character for more than two years and have spent all that time planning and building up to it.

(As people tend to enjoy getting offended over all kinds of things, I'd like to add that I have no intention of insulting any person or minority group by my use of the word 'Nazi' before. It's just a term I use.)

Lady Delerith: Lady Delerith: Hey, my fault. When school work finally eases up again, (if there ever is such a thing) I'm gonna try and write another chapter… If Solia lets me Thanks all.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter 17

"Well, that was fun. At least we got some sight-seeing in."

Chase ignored Ari's attempts to be cheerful. She had her forehead rested against the backseat window of the car as Glyph drove them back. Whenever they went over bumps, Chase's head smacked into the glass, but she didn't care. Learning that your best friend didn't (or wasn't going to) care about you as much as you at first thought was pretty harsh knowledge.

And being told by someone like the Oracle that Chase could never see Carrie again… That was worse. Because Chase had almost convinced herself that once she was older, she'd be able to go back and free Carrie, too. She had Ari, who was almost like a sister, but Chase felt like she had a serious void. She knew that it was due to the fact that her other half was still here in the Matrix, alone and without her.

"I take it that didn't go too well," Glyph said apologetically. Despite her attempts at cheeriness, Ari must have been in a sour mood, too, because she sighed in annoyance.

"No, Captain, it went great," she said sarcastically from the front seat. "That's why Chase is banging her head into the window back there." Glyph gave up and kept driving. Ari turned in her seat. "You're doing it all wrong. You've got to smash the window harder than that if you want sharp shards on your lap to work with."

"Ari," Glyph said warningly, but Chase laughed and stopped. Ari was good at breaking tension like that.

"I'll remember that," Chase said. She leaned forward. "I can't believe that woman. Are you sure that she was really the Oracle, Glyph?"

"Of course she was," the captain said in confusion.

"I reckon she was lying," Ari said, turning again to Chase.

"Or she was wrong."

"She's never wrong," Glyph said with a light laugh.

"She must have been wrong," Chase said. "What she implied was completely impossible. In fact, I can't believe she'd even say that to us. How dare she accuse you of being a backstabber?"

"Yeah!" Ari was getting into the one-sided argument, too. She offered her hand to Chase. "We'll never let her be right."

Chase shook her hand and smiled.

"Don't be stupid," she agreed. "The mere notion that our friendship could be jeopardised by a job is ridiculous."

Minutes later, the adventure was over. They'd been sucked back through the phone lines to their chairs in the _Nadir_. They fully intended to go back to their lives as though nothing had happened.

But as Chase attempted to slink out of the Core unseen, Glyph called her name.

"Yes?" she asked, turning back. Glyph was standing beside Lunar, who was sitting in her operating chair, watching the Matrix code falling sedately down her screens. Ari was there, too, watching as well, leaning over the operator's shoulder. This was Chase's best friend. Was it possible that what the Oracle had said could come to pass?

"I'd like you to see this, too," Glyph said calmly, indicating the screens. He turned to look, turning his back on Chase, obviously trusting her to come when asked. She walked over, feeling resentful.

"What is it?" she asked, keeping her feelings out of her voice.

"Because you and Ari work so well as a team, I want the two of you to share the responsibility of this project," their captain said outright. "This will be your first job – I'm trusting you girls with this young man's mind. You will study him, tempt him, meet with him and finally free him."

Chase, all thoughts of the stupid Oracle's words fleeing her mind, shared an excited and apprehensive look with Ari. Their first project!

"You will have one week to study him, learn everything you need to know," Glyph said seriously, "and if at the end of that time you know enough, you will be able to make first contact. Your subject has been on-and-off chasing the Matrix since he was twelve, so he's getting frustrated. We were put onto him by another ship, the _Logos_. Captain Niobe watched him for a while before deciding that he's not talented enough for her time, and doesn't seem interested enough. But, I think with the right… persuasion, this guy might be perfect for you two to start with."

Now Glyph leaned down a bit to look both girls straight in the eyes.

"If either of you think you need any help at all, or aren't sure about something, make sure you come to me or to someone else," he said. His voice was serious but gentle. "Not everyone gets it right the first time. Not everyone gets their own projects to start with. But I think you two have observed long enough; I think you two are very talented people who work exceedingly well, especially together. I also think that you will be fine. You're in charge of this young man's fate. Good luck."

Swelling with pride and excitement, Chase and Ari watched Glyph leave, his blonde ponytail disappearing from sight, before turning to each other with a squeal and hugging.

"There you go," Lunar said, standing and waving a hand at the computers. "Take a seat and I'll show you everything I'd found on Stark."

"Who?" Ari asked excitedly, taking Lunar's vacated seat. Too lazy to find another chair, Chase sat down on her armrest.

"His name's Stark," Lunar explained, pointing at the one screen that did not show the Matrix in its serene, falling code state. "Open that folder. That's the stuff Niobe sent us."

Ari did as she was told.

"Open the profile."

Ari clicked on the file, and a page sprung onto the screen. There was what looked like a school photo of a teenage boy, along with what looked like pages of information.

"Mm-mm, hot_tie_," Ari commented, leaning closer to the screen to admire the photo. Chase did the same, glancing at 'Stark's' stats.

Jai Kieran Matthews was two years older than Chase and Ari, according to this information, if it was accurate. Chase examined his photograph. It was two years old, taken in his last year of high school. He had tan-brown skin, black hair and a nice-shaped face. Chase tried to decipher the exact shade of his eyes – they looked like light brown, but could be hazel. No. They weren't hazel, she thought. Just brown, but Jai Matthews' eyes were a nice cocoa brown.

Yeah. Jai – or Stark, whatever – was very attractive. But Chase would reserve her overall judgement until she met him, and told Ari this when asked for her opinion.

"I guess," Ari said, then, smirking, she added, "I mean, this picture doesn't show what his body might look like, does it? And he mightn't be so gorgeous now."

Chase giggled.

"I'm talking about his mental and emotional state, Ari," she chided. "He could be a complete nutcase – or he could be a chauvinistic pig."

"That's right," Lunar agreed, looking relieved to see that not everyone in the worldseemed as shallow as Ari. "Or, he could be homosexual."

"Oh," Ari said, looking crestfallen. Chase, smirking, skimmed through the rest of the information, scrolling quickly.

"I feel like a stalker," she admitted, reading through the list of Jai Matthews' previous residential addresses. He lived in the USA, and had never moved outside of Los Angeles, California. Further down the page, Chase found a list of Jai's household members, closest friends, and then a list of ex-girlfriends! "He's not gay, Ari!"

"Ah, yay! How do you know?" Ari asked eagerly, reading what Chase pointed at. "'Julia Abbot, Emily Rayner, Melinda Brody, Tahlia Brody, Andria Miguel, Lisa Windsor…' This list just goes on. This is all ex-girlfriends?"

"Looks like it. 'Lola Atwood, Kathy McKinnon, Natalie Miguel, Emma-Lee River…' What a player!"

"Well, he _is_ gorgeous – can you blame him?" Ari reasoned. "Besides…" She counted names. "Twenty-two girlfriends isn't so bad. By now he's got to be nineteen or so, right? So say he went out with this Julia Abbot girl when he was like twelve or thirteen, but I mean, seriously, he was like twelve, or how serious can that be? Same with the next five. By that point he would have been about fourteen, and from then there's still sixteen…"

"Sixteen girlfriends in five years," Lunar said sceptically.

"That's only three-point-two per year, which isn't bad," Ari said, doing the maths in her head. Chase used to be able to work out mathematical stuff that quickly.

"Maybe he has commitment problems?" she suggested. "Or maybe he's hard to get along with."

"Don't ruin him before we even meet him!" Ari told Chase off. "Let's assume he's sweet and gorgeous and he always goes out with girls on the rebound, so they get over him too fast?"

Chase smiled.

"Nice fantasy," she said, scrolling down the screen. "He has a messed-up family, Ari. Look at this."

"House residents: Tom Asbury, Judy Asbury, Jai Matthews, Jessica Matthews, Chris Short, Max Asbury. Why does everyone have different surnames?"

"Half-brothers and step-fathers and the like," Chase said, reading intently as Lunar wandered off to find more interesting people.

"I can handle him having a messed-up past and bad family relationships," Ari said with a bright smile.

"I'm sure you could," Chase answered with a return smile. She went back to the photo and the two friends silently gazed at the attractive face for a long moment.

"He is hot," Ari mentioned finally. "You can't argue with that."

"I won't."

"I wonder if he'd like to be called Stark, or if he's too used to being called Jai? I mean, he's nineteen. We were only fourteen."

"Well, if everyone who was freed from the Matrix kept the name they were used to, we'd have no one called Glyph or Citadel or Teardrop and Cinnamon, would we?" Chase reasoned.

"Teardrop and Cinnamon could have been called those names as nicknames when they were kids."

"Except we know they weren't."

"Yeah. I wonder if Glorious's parents called her Glorious when she was little, or if they just called her 'dumb bitch' like the rest of us do?" Ari said offhand. Chase giggled.

They fell silent again, staring once again at the school photo of Jai Matthews.

"Yeah, you're right," Chase said after a while. "He really is hot."

Ari smirked.

"Told you."


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13. The language here is about as bad as you'll hear in high school, which is the age that all of our readers are of or above. If you have not yet entered high school, then you shouldn't be reading this.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes:

Lady-Delerith: Hey all, I wrote this chapter and it didn't take my two months or something I hope you like and a warning, there is a lot of language towards the end of this. Hope you enjoy

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter 18

They were in the Matrix on a routine 'sleepover' – they were jacked in for a 36-hour shift together with the intention of watching Stark from a close distance and with the entire crew of the _Nadir_ watching their every move, ready to jump in and help at any time. Captain Glyph himself was spending tonight at a bus stop two blocks away, guarding the exit. He was close enough that he could help the girls if they needed help, and yet far enough away that he wouldn't encroach upon their independence.

Glyph really was a fantastic guy. The girls had been observing Stark from the _Nadir_ for three weeks now. Every few days, Glyph had taken them on day trips into the Matrix to out-of-the-way Internet cafes to research their subject. Once he was sure they'd learnt enough, he'd dropped the bombshell – he trusted their sensibility, responsibility and their knowledge thus far enough to allow them almost complete creative license for the rest of this task. Chase and Ari had planned their operation exactly and had their proposition back to their captain within two days. And so he had granted them 36 consecutive hours inside the Matrix – the longest shift allowed by law for anyone aged under twenty-five. Fully-trained adults could stay in the Matrix, unconscious and on virtual life-support, for 50 hours before they had to be either (by Zion law) jacked out via an exit, or unplugged (killed by default). Staying in for long periods of time had been proven to be mentally and physically damaging.

The girls had 36 hours living inside an empty apartment in Jai Matthews' building to watch him and eventually establish contact. Glyph had promised he would not interfere – he wanted them to feel free to act the way they felt they needed to, without his authoritative presence pressing upon them. He had so much trust for them, it made Ari smile. The captain would wait by the exit all night, and then swap shifts with Citadel in the morning.

The 'ping' sounded in the elevator as the doors slid open to reveal a damp, dimly lit hallway. Ari looked up from her daydream and visibly shuddered when the smell of mold and old pizza boxes attacked her.

"You've got to be kidding me," Chase whispered from behind Ari, as though afraid to wake the residents of the disgusting place. In truth it was late evening – everyone was inside their apartments, watching talk shows. "It's… gross. It's like the Oracle's place… except worse, and I didn't think you could get worse than that."

Ari turned to her counterpart and smirked. _This will definitely be interesting_. She couldn't wait to see how Princess Chase survived. Zion and the real world were a bit icky and primitive, but the grossness of Stark's building was probably beyond Chase's tolerance levels. Picking up two of bags of their equipment, Ari took in a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator.

"Ok, let's get to it. Oh my god, Chase, we're doing it! Our first mission, it's going to be so damn awesome." They both giggled as they lugged their bags down to the end of the hallway to the one marked with no. 106.

"I thought we were in 109…" Chase said, looking up and down the hall.

"We are." Ari flipped the last digit back up. "This place is _not_ worth the money we aren't paying for it. Ok, let's put our knowledge into practice" Chase pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and laid into the lock, a slow click shortly following. She opened the door to an overwhelming stench of mould and rat poison.

"Oh, now you've got to seriously be kidding me!" she exclaimed, upset, as they both drew back. Ari pulled their packs in and dumped them on the faded lounge chair, pulling out the computer gear as Chase slowly closed the door behind them. She was probably afraid to lock herself in.

"Ok, let's just get set up first before it gets too late and do the quiet neighbour thing," Ari said, taking charge in light of Chase's obvious weakness. "Hang low… Did I just say that?"

"Yes, yes you did. Be afraid, Ari." Chase giggled as Ari pretended to throw a cushion at her. "I'm going to see where the rooms are. Please let there be a non-lice-infested bed, PLEASE!"

Ari smiled after Chase, thinking how she thought she'd have a hard time. Pulling out the shiny, never-before-touched laptop, she cleared a space on the coffee table and plugged it in. _It's been too long_, she thought, logging into her old msn account and finding it suspended. _That's right; it would have shut down after three years_. Sighing, she started up another account; and went back to her unpacking. It was strange to be back, there was this feeling of belonging. _No, I don't belong here, I never did_.

Chase had searched the flat and picked out the main room for herself and the other room for Ari. Ari chucked her small bag on the floor and collapsed onto the bed not bothering to take off her boots. The room brought back memories of her home, the dingy basement (so out of place in the elegant home) she knew as her refuge with her computer. This was better though. No ignorant mother always shrugging her off, never noticing her at all. No arse of a brother that abused her to get money for his damn cigarettes. As the memories flooded back to her Ari laid back, tears rolled freely down her cheeks. How long had it been since she'd cried last? Forever? How long had it been since that life? Three years. Only three years? She curled into a ball and let the tears slowly trickle down her cheek, across her nose, relishing the feeling of freedom she received. She should be like Chase and cry all the time for no reason instead of not crying for years and years and then walking into a strange room and turning into a fountain. Right then there was a soft knocking at her door. She sat up quick, and tried to wipe away the tears as the door opened, not in time though.

"Ari, I… Ari are you ok?" Chase demanded, walking right in. Ari inwardly cursed herself for showing a weakness and tried to smile. This was hers and Chase's first mission, their dream, and here she was moping over something past.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look it. What's wrong? You can tell me, Ari," Chase added softly, sitting beside her friend and brushing back curly tendrils of mahogany purple hair. Ari bit her lips and took in a shuddered breath. _She's your best friend, almost your sister or twin_, she reminded herself, finally letting her emotions pour out.

"It's just this place, being back in the matrix and everything. It reminds me of home and… how shit it was." Ari sighed and took a great interest in the hole in the blanket. "My mum, she didn't care about me at all. I was just another person to her, not her own child. Even when I was sent to hospital after… after cutting myself, she just said that something about 'teen culture' and went back to her work. I was_ nothing_ to her." Ari glanced down at her black cuffs. They covered up her entire wrists. She suddenly felt a need to see her smooth white wrists, pulling them off to reveal the thick white scars running down her wrist. _Oh God, they're back_. She didn't have them in the real world – she hadn't realised that she still had them here. Chase reached over and covered them up, tightening the leather cuffs.

"They'll always be there, Chasey," Ari said dejectedly, not bothering to stop her. "They're part of me, that's why they're still there even after all these years-"

"Those aren't yours, Ari," Chase snapped, sounding surprisingly firm. "You didn't do that to yourself and none of that happened to you."

"What are you talking about? Of course it did. It happened to me. I _did_ cut myself – I made those scars."

"No, that was Kye Sanders, a lonely girl with crap parents from a different time," Chase said, securing the second cuff. "That wasn't Ari. That wasn't the girl that can kick anyone's arse, and that I hold as the closest friend I have. Ari, my sister, my best friend, would _never _do that to herself. You aren't Kye Sanders anymore, remember that."

Ari ran her hand over her other leather cuff and smiled at Chase, wiping away her stray tears. "Thanks, Chase. That means a lot. I'm alright now."

Chase smiled back and got up, "Glad to help. I'm going to go check out the building. Lunar said the phone lines were in the basement; I'm going to try to bug Stark's phone. See what interesting goss we can get."

"Yeah, I'll go put those cameras up around. I wonder what happens in that elevator."

Chase pulled a face at Ari and closed the door behind her. Ari got up and pulled out her leather jacket, pocketing the spy cameras. She left the apartment after Chase grabbing a bag of rubbish as an alibi.

Pulling out the tiny cameras she placed them around the hallway and in the elevator. Getting rid of the rubbish she went back to the apartment but stopped when she heard the click of Stark's door opening. He was walking towards her before she could react. _This is your chance,_ she started walking towards him and 'accidentally' bumped into him.

"Oh, sorry."

The deep voice made Ari look up at him, losing herself in his eyes. She smiled at him, "Sorry, that was my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going." He stood there, staring at her but shook his head when he noticed Ari's smirk.

He cleared his throat. "Are… are you visiting someone?"

"Oh, no. I just moved into no. 109. I was just looking around but I have to get back, lots of cleaning to be done. That place is a dump." She moved to her door taking a last glance as she went into the apartment. He was still staring after her. _He does have the body, nice!_. She giggled as she closed the door. Damn she was good.

Chase walked in a short time later and sat next to Ari, who was setting the cameras up on the computer.

"I saw Stark at the elevator. He is _hot_. It's like you can't help but make a pass at him."

"Yeah, I know," Ari answered, throwing a grin in Chase's direction. "Ok, all we have to do now is wait for the Matthews' to leave and I can slip this note onto his desk."

Chase took the note from Ari and read it out.

"'Stark, meet us at the Lake, 10 pm Tuesday. Come and find everything you have been looking for. –Ari'… A little ambiguous isn't it?"

"Yeah, well, we can't give away too much. Plus, what guy could resist that invitation?"

"True." Chase yawned, and then stretched, cat-like. "Ok, well, I'm going to get some sleep. You ok with keeping watch?"

"Yeah, night."

Ari made a coffee and tried to get as comfortable as she could on the over-springy couch. She had almost dazed off when she noticed Stark's door opening once again and several people file out. _They must be his family_. She waited for the elevator doors to close before she slipped out of the apartment and over to his. Gently opening the lock, again with Chase's bobby pin, she slipped into the apartment. It was the same layout as her apartment but the floors were cluttered with clothes and other rubbish. Grimacing she stepped over a pile and crept further into the room. She could only imagine how little princess Chase would react to this place. Probably wouldn't enter. Lucky it was Ari who got this task then.

There were only three rooms in the apartment but it seemed that Jai had to share with his younger brother. The room was scattered with toy dinosaurs and metabots on one half, the other was relatively clean with a computer tucked into the corner. How cute. Ari inspected the desk. It was littered with printouts of emails and internet banking transfers (probably illegal). A few long-empty coffee mugs served as paperweights. Ari placed the note between the keys of Jai's computer's keyboard and left the room.

She was walking back to the apartment's entrance when the scraping of a key sounded from the front door. Her heart stopped when she couldn't find anywhere to hide. The door opened and a young girl with curly brown hair ran in, grabbing a pink jacket off the back of a chair in the lounge room. She ran back out the door, slamming it shut behind her as Ari slipped down from the ceiling breathing hard. _That was too close_. She waited by the door until there was no more noise and slipped back to her apartment. She closed the apartment door behind her and took a deep breath and headed to her room. They could go 'save' Jai in the morning, now it was time to sleep.

---

"You cheating bastard! It's just _you_, isn't it? You fucking said you were finished with this _crap_! No more getting drunk with college girls, no more cheating after I took you back. And now _this_!"

Ari shot up in bed, woken by the high-pitched shrill coming from outside her room somewhere. She stumbled out of her bedroom and into the lounge room where Chase was staring intently at the monitors.

"What the hell was that? I was sleeping, damn it," Ari mumbled, trying look alert and not to yawn.

"You have to see this; he's getting torn into shreds!" Chase commented. Ari dropped down next to her and looked at the screens. Jai was standing in the hallway being berated by a gorgeous girl of oriental characteristics. There was no need for audio, she was screaming loud enough to be heard five blocks away.

"Please Ella, what did I do?" Stark's innocent voice could be heard through the door nearby.

"What did you do? What did you _fucking _do? How could you cheat on me!" shrieked the teenaged girl, who had to be Ella.

"What? Look, it was nothing. Maria's a liar. What did she tell you?"

"Maria! You mean there's a Maria _and_ an Ari? I can't believe you! You are a total wanker!"

Ari and Chase looked at each other. Ari murmured a hardly audible, "Oh shit."

"Well that didn't fit," Chase said. She sat back from the screens while Jai struggled to redeem himself. "Ari, what did you do?"

Ari looked wide-eyed at Chase. "I didn't do anything. I just passed him in the hallway but I didn't tell him my name and… Oh, the note. She found the note! I left it on his desk. This isn't good."

"What's that in her hand?" Chase asked, squinting at the screen. Ari did the same, screwing up her eyes to better see Ella's right hand. It was a tight fist that held something that looked like a bunch of paper.

"The note. It must be."

"Are you sure? It doesn't just look like a small note, there's something more. The last thing I want is for Jai's angry ex to walk out of here with something incriminating like hacked bank details or something."

"Why would she have something like that?"

"Did Jai have anything like that on his desk?" Chase asked. Ari thought for a second and nodded.

"Yeah, he did. A few downloaded bank statements with illegal transfers here and there. Nothing unusual for someone like him or us."

"But still not legal," Chase said, "and I don't want the police involved. That would make this _way_ too difficult for us."

Ari realised this was true. Glyph would never _ever_ allow them to continue if there was a risk like law enforcement. On the screen, Ella was waving the sheet of paper.

"This proves everything I've ever thought of you, Jai," she said furiously. "You're just as low and completely despicable as I always knew, and now I have proof, right here."

"We need that paper," Ari said, heading for the door.

"Wait!" Chase called, following quickly. "We don't know if it isn't the note. Be cool." Ari opened the door and walked out but stopped dead when a pair of angry brown eyes fixed upon her. Chase almost walked into her. Jai turned to look at the girls and raised his eyebrows in shock, looking them both up and down.

Ella broke down, tears pouring down her cheeks. "You can't even pay attention to me when we are having a goddamn fight! You are always _perving_ on other girls. That's it! I'm leaving you for good this time!"

It seemed that almost everyone in the building was standing against the walls of the corridor, nosily observing the unfolding action. When Ella exclaimed that, there was an audible, shocked, collective intake of breath.

"And these," Ella cried, waving the papers in her hand at Jai. He reached for them but she snatched them away and began to read them in her raised, teary voice: "'Sometimes I look at photos of us together and wonder why we ever broke up – we were so hot together. I can't stop thinking about the time we…' I don't even want to _know_ what Kathy thinks about." Ella wiped her cheek dry and shuffled through the papers, obviously not evidence of illegal bank transfers. "Your reply to that: 'Kathy, I don't know how many times I have to say it, I never wanted it to end, I've have you back in a second. I've matured and I think we have another shot'. _Please_. You, mature? And then there's one from _Talitha_. Isn't she, like, fourteen? Practically a little kid. 'Thanks so much for coming over, Jai, I've never had a better Friday night in'. You told me you couldn't come to Bernadette's party because you were babysitting."

"I was babysitting!" Jai argued. "Talitha usually has boring old babysitters-"

"Oh, I'll bet none of them are as fun as you," Ella said scathingly. She threw the papers at him, "To think you print out your slimy, disgusting e-mails! _You filthy pig_!"

"Ella, this is stupid-" Jai began, but Ella cut him off by slapping him across the mouth. He went silent, stunned.

"That's right, Jai, just be silent," she said softly. "You're nicer that way. Close your mouth. Everything that comes from your mouth is shit, and I don't want to hear anymore." She walked off, giving him one last indignant look as the elevator doors closed behind her.

Chase tugged on Ari's sleeve, " I think we should go back inside now." Ari nodded and walked back inside. They turned to the monitors and saw Jai pick up the papers, stopping at the small hand written note from Ari. He seemed to be smiling and stuffed it in his jacket pocket.

---

:Stark: says: Who r u?

-Ari- says: I'm the one you have been waiting for; I have your answers, Stark.

:Stark: says: u r the 1 who left the note?

-Ari- says: Yes, meet me at the lake and everything will become clear.

:Stark: says: how do i know this isnt jst some set up how do i no u rnt some old guy with weird fantasies?

-Ari- says: I'm not. My trust is all I can offer.

:Stark: says: wat if dats not enuff?

-Ari- says: Then you're not who we're looking for. The Matrix has you.

:Stark: says: can u tel me bout the matrix?

-Ari- says: Yes, we can. Do you trust me, Jai?

:Stark: says: … how do u no my name?

-Ari- says: I know a lot more than that, so much more. Meet me there.

:Stark: says: how can I tel you apart from the homles ppl who live at the lake

-Ari- says: You will know us. There will be two of us. The answers are out there.

-Ari- Appears to be offline.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13. The language here is no worse than what you'd hear in a high school. If have not yet entered high school, then you shouldn't be reading this.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' notes:

Solia: Hey everyone, and sorry for the wait if anyone cared. We've finally reached chapter 19, and we're back to Chase. Just to recap on the events of the last episode – Chase and Ari received their first project, a 19-year-old Californian hottie called Jai Matthews, or Stark. After a stakeout in his apartment building, the girls have arranged to meet him at 10pm in his local park.

Delerith and I have finally finished school so we have a few months off before uni begins. There is a possibility that more fanfiction writing will result from this excessive free time, but I won't make any promises because holidays, in the past, have been the least productive time for writing.

I really hope that this chapter is enjoyed and that it was worth the extensive wait. Thanks to Arhazivory and to ShadowRess for your reviews… back in May. I really hope that we haven't lost too many loyal readers this year. We truly have been exceedingly busy and under so much stress. So hopefully there's more chapters to come for those readers who still care about this story, and also for those of you who have just started reading.

Lady Delerith: Hey all, don't worry, we're already into the next chapter, kinda. Just need a couple more nudges of inspiriation to get us going. I hope this chapters ok and suggestions and critics are always welcome. Much love, Lady D

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter 19

10:47pm, Tuesday.

"He's not coming, Chase," Ari said finally, sounding disappointed. "Ten minutes late, I can understand, but forty-five minutes late means he's either forgotten or he's not coming. I thought we had him, too."

"He's coming," Chase replied, confident. Ari sighed and slid further down the tree she was leaning against. They had chosen the cute duck-feeding lake at the nearby Walter Park playground as their meeting place for Stark because of its familiarity to nearby residents and easy accessibility. During the day it was bright, sunny and filled with laughing children on slides. At night, it played motel to countless bums (homeless people, most of them drunks and druggies) sleeping in the chipped bark underneath the jungle-gym structures and a few lowlife drug dealers preying on them, trading their third-rate substances for whatever money the homeless people had managed to collect throughout the day. Preying on those who had nothing left to lose except what was given to them. Chase was absolutely disgusted. One of the dealers, dressed in a long brown coat, was shooting glances at Chase and Ari over the shoulders of his current customer, a frizzled old man wearing ripped flannelette. If the lowlife prick even thought about bothering the girls, Chase would just snap.

"How do you know?" Ari grumbled, breathing onto her hands to warm up her fingers. It was pretty cold in the park, especially with the chilly slight wind. Chase could feel goose bumps coming up on her bare legs and wished she'd been sensible enough to _not_ wear a miniskirt for once.

"I don't know how. I just know he's coming. He's too tempted with the ideal of the Matrix to stop now. Maybe he got caught up at home."

Ari grumbled a bit more and finally sat down at the base of the tree. Chase pulled herself up onto the brick barrier that ran along this side of the lake.

"The grass is cold," Ari complained, dragging her feet underneath herself to stand and join Chase on the brick fence. "When can we go home? I'm cold and I know you are too."

"Yeah, I am," Chase admitted, pulling her long cloak from under her and trying to cover her legs. It didn't help much. "But let's give him until 11. You don't want him to turn up and find no one, do you?"

"No, I guess not."

The flannelette old man spending his tiny money collection on drugs moved off into the shadows of some swings and his dealer slowly, casually began to make his way towards Chase and Ari.

"Great," Chase muttered furiously, folding her arms.

"We can deal with him, he's not very old," Ari answered, her hand under her coat, resting on the gun on her hip. "Do you think he's armed? I can't see anything and his coat looks too tight to keep a gun hidden under it."

As the young dealer was still at least twenty metres away, Chase responded, "Possibly. Maybe he has a knife or something we can't see."

"How old do you think he is?"

"Not very much older than us."

At this, Ari casually shifted her hand, causing her coat to slip away from her waist and revealing her weapon. Chase reached down to her boot, slowly removing the switchblade she kept there hidden for emergencies. The dealer froze, realising the danger he would be putting himself into by getting any closer. After a moment's hesitation, he began moving again, veering off in a different direction to meet other potential customers.

"Good choice," Chase muttered darkly, glaring after the dealer. "Disgusting lowlife piece of shi-"

A twig snapped underfoot, and both Chase and Ari jumped, spinning to face their surprise approacher. Chase already had her switchblade in her hand, although she didn't feel in any real danger, and Ari immediately had her hand on her gun. Chase flicked out the blade and held it out to warn whomever off.

"Whoa, I'm sorry!" the guy in the shadows said, surprised by their reaction. He stumbled back and tripped over an unearthed tree root. His face was briefly lit by the distant, weak light of a nearby lamp, and Chase recognised him then.

"It's Stark," she said, closing the switchblade and putting it back into her boot. Ari relaxed and held a hand out to the fallen young man.

"You're late," she said as he took her hand and stood. The two girls silently surveyed Jai Matthews as he dusted off his hands and eyed them. He was _so cute_.

"I know. I'm sorry, I had to wait for my sister to go to sleep," he explained. "She's sick."

Chase felt her heart melting. Staying back to look after his little sister…

"Fair enough," Ari responded, tilting her head and examining him again. He glanced between them, and a quirky smile broke out across his already adorable face.

"And here I was thinking you two were just some hot flatmates moving into my building," he said charmingly. Chase willed herself not to blush. "Which one of you is Ari?"

Ari raised one hand silently, and she indicated Chase. "This is Chase. She and I work together."

"Yeah, I met you in the lift," Jai (well, Stark) remembered, smiling warmly at Chase.

Chase could feel the heat rise up on her cheeks and slid slightly back into the darkness to cover her face. She couldn't help the smile creeping up on her face. He was definitely cute.

"We should probably get going, we're already overdue our curfew waiting for you." Ari slipped her hands into the pocket of her jacket and started walking in the direction of the nearest phone booth, making sure to brush against Jai. He smiled after her, and then turned his smile to Chase. She made sure to flash a quick smile in return before hurrying after Ari. She was very aware of his presence right behind her, following her. They found a working phone booth, which Ari had to break to use, and Chase and Jai waited for Ari while she made the call to Lunar. Chase leaned against the glass wall of the booth, studying the cracks in the cement beneath her feet. They looked as real as any crack in cement… and yet, they weren't real.

"What is this place?"

Chase looked up at Jai. He was very cute. She was meant to leave this for Glyph to explain.

"We're taking you to someone who can explain better than we can," she said simply. Jai frowned.

"You two promised me answers. I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me what the hell's going on. You lure me to a local park at night, saying you can help me, but you won't. You can't expect me to follow blindly, Chase."

She could tell that he wouldn't go with them if he didn't find out. But she had to be careful. Saying the wrong thing could scare him or unconsciously place him against them. She hesitated.

"Look," Jai said, thinking. "Can you just tell me… why am I different? You're like me, aren't you? You two." He indicated Ari, who was still on the phone. "You can feel it too, can't you?"

"That feeling inside that something isn't right." Chase knew the feeling well. It had plagued her childhood and early adolescence.

"And you know now, don't you?" Jai pressed. "You've found out what's not right, and that's why you're here. That's the only thing that makes us different. You're here to help the rest of us see, too."

Chase smiled.

"Then what is it? Tell me what it is that's not right. I can feel it, but it's just out of reach."

Chase could feel his frustration. She studied him for a moment, and then decided it wouldn't hurt. He was their project, after all.

"What's wrong is that it's not real," she said finally.

"Then what is this place?"

"A dream."

"Are you here to wake me up?" Jai asked, sounding slightly playful.

"It would be better for someone else to explain it all, but if you believe me then you must come with us."

"I've been waiting for this for far to long to let it slip out of my hands like this."

By now, Ari had finished the call and was leaning against the phone booth surveying Jai. Stark. Whatever.

"We need to meet up over the West side. Lunar said it's a bit far to just walk. They want us to bus it; less obvious." Chase looked down at their clothes, all leather and mini skirts and doubted they'd look normal on public transport.

"There's an hourly bus that runs past here and goes to the West side of town," Jai suggested. "I'll show you." The girls followed him to the nearest bus stop and waited.

"This reminds me too much of my old life", was all that Ari grumbled and she stretched herself over the metal bench. Chase cringed at the grime and stuck close to Jai's side.

"Dirt and grossness?" she asked.

"No, having to take busses everywhere because my parents were too busy to drive me."

Chase felt a slight pang of pity for her best friend and felt a sudden need to hug her. Ari's Matrix life had truly sucked. Unwilling to sit down on the icky bench, she leaned over and hugged Ari's shoulders. Chase pulled away and noticed Ari's smile. Her pale face was suddenly illuminated as the bus they were waiting for swung around a corner, headlights on full-beam.

"How much is the bus?" Chase asked suddenly as Jai flagged it down. Paying for transport was something she'd forgotten about. She and Ari hadn't thought about that. They glanced at each other.

"Not much. I'll pay for it," Stark said as the heavy vehicle groaned to a stop and opened its doors. "I'm guessing I won't need spare change wherever you're taking me."

"True," Ari muttered, stepping into the bus ahead of Chase. Jai paid the fares and the three of them went searching for seats. Considering it was about 11pm at night on a Tuesday, the bus was surprisingly full. A greasy middle-aged man winked at the girls as they passed. Chase spared him a disdainful look. A young woman glanced twice at Jai, obviously liking what she saw, and discreetly moved over a little, hoping he would take the seat. He didn't. Chase felt relief. The bus began moving, and all three of them grabbed the backs of seats to keep their balance.

"Sorry," Chase murmured automatically to the elderly woman whose seat she'd grabbed. The lady peered irritably up at her, before quickly assessing Chase's attire.

"Put some clothes on," she snapped. Chase stared at her. "Your mother should be ashamed, letting you out like that." The old lady glared up the aisle at Ari and Jai, who were both more moderately dressed and wearing completely black. "And letting you run around with those _Goths_." She shook her head. "Does she even know you're out this late, flashing your skin like a hooker and running about with kids who have probably spent all day breaking windows and worshipping the devil?"

Chase raised an eyebrow and kept walking down the aisle of the bus. It was a _miniskirt_, for crying out loud. And, yeah, knee-high boots. And a long jacket. So what? It wasn't like she was walking around a dodgy area unarmed and alone in the middle of the night. Besides, the way Chase dressed said nothing about her character. And wearing black did not make them all bad people.

As Jai and Ari found three seats together near the back, Chase began to remember other aspects of the Matrix she had hated without realising. The shallow, appearance-driven society that she'd always assumed was just in school, but wasn't, it was everywhere, just in different forms. Not beautiful? You're nobody. Wearing black? You're a violent and disrespectful Goth. A short skirt? Some leg showing? You're a slut.

_Quite obviously_, Chase thought in sarcastic amusement. She'd never had a boyfriend; never even been kissed. So, quite obviously, by wearing a short skirt, she was an absolute nymphomaniac.

She was glad that this kind of stigma didn't exist in Zion.

"You two aren't from around here," Jai said suddenly. He was sitting in the seat opposite the girls, across the aisle. "Are you English?"

Chase laughed, and Ari said, "No, we're Australian. We _were_ Australians."

"Australian," Jai repeated, grinning. "That's hot. Have you ever seen a koala?"

Both girls nodded, amused by his delight.

"Did you have them as pets?" he asked eagerly. They laughed.

"I don't think you're allowed to keep native animals without a licence," Chase explained. "Besides, we were city girls."

"Are you sisters?" Jai asked, looking between them. Before they could answer, he added, "You don't look much alike."

"We're close friends," Ari said, and left it at that.

Within fifteen minutes, the bus had reached their destination, and they filed off. The old woman mumbled something about 'girls these days' as they were passing her. Once off the bus, and after the bus had driven off, Ari looked around.

"We're looking for an old building," she said uselessly. All of the buildings here were old. "Lunar said it's a photo developer and some empty apartments upstairs. Five storey building."

"Robin's Photography?" Jai asked. Ari nodded. "Yeah, it's in the next street over. What kind of photos are you developing?"

"Can you direct us there?" Chase said, ignoring his question. He nodded, but looked unsure. He began walking up the street. Chase fell into step with Ari.

"Which floor do we need?" she asked.

"Top one. It's been empty for years, Lunar said. No one wants to live there because people keep breaking in." She grinned. Chase understood. Most buildings with a hardline came with the problem of rebels breaking in to jack out of the Matrix.

"Is Glyph there already?" she asked, and Ari nodded.

"He's waiting," she said. "Citadel, Coyote and Specter are there, too."

Jai (Stark) turned left at the next silent intersection.

"Hardly anyone is out at night on this side of town," he explained as the girls looked around. "This is the less appealing side of the city. Just crappy little private businesses and a whole lot of fruit markets. It's always empty at night."

"You know this town pretty well," Ari commented.

"I've always lived here in LA," he said. "We've moved around a bit, after Mom's divorce from my dad and after she left her next partner and stuff."

"I don't mean to pry, Jai, but how many times has your mother married?" Chase asked hesitantly. Jai/Stark grinned, not at all offended.

"Just twice. She was married to my dad for eight years before he left her for someone else. Mom took my sister and I and moved in with her next boyfriend – he's the dad of my half-sister Chris. And after they were finished, she met Tom, married him and had Max. A little messy, but there you have it. Here's Robin's Photography." Jai stopped and gestured to the building across the road. The bottom storey was a poky little shop with bars on its dusty, dark windows, and a fire escape ladder scaled the side of the brick structure.

"Thanks, Stark," Ari said, examining the building. Chase felt a little guilty for calling Stark by the name Jai, because in the real world he was going to get called Stark, and it was her responsibility to be preparing him for that life. Ari started across the road, looking back at Chase as she did so. "Lunar said the ladder's the best bet. The shop looks too well locked for us to get in easily."

Chase didn't have to verbalise her agreement. Neither of them had yet mastered the art of turning steel bars and alarm systems into marshmallows. They suspected it was a difficult art to master, and not one they were prepared to spend much time attempting.

Jai – no, Stark – needed some convincing to climb the ladder and break into the top storey apartment, but eventually Chase was stepping through a long-broken window onto a pile of dust and dull shards of glass. The small bedroom was dusty, empty and lonely, and had probably been that way for years.

Chase and Ari crossed to the bedroom door and turned to Stark. He was standing awkwardly beside the broken window, looking around.

"Now what?" he asked. He sounded almost nervous. Chase could tell that he didn't feel comfortable now that he had nowhere to run. He wasn't afraid of the girls. He didn't like feeling trapped, and probably felt a little overwhelmed by the breaking-in and the this-is-the-end-of-the-line factors.

"There's someone waiting for you behind this door," Ari explained as Chase smiled reassuringly and tried to emit an air of confidence and calm. "He's the one we've brought you to meet. He's the one who can tell you everything."

"If you're willing to listen," Chase added. Ari nodded.

"Are you ready to go through?" she asked. Stark swallowed and lifted his head. He nodded twice and began walking forwards.

There had been no incidents so far and all was going well, so it surprised Stark when the door swung open before he even reached it. Standing on the other side was Glyph, their captain, waiting for their arrival. Stark stopped and took a defensive step backwards.

"Who's he?" he demanded of Chase, to whom he stood closest.

Smiling, Glyph stepped forward and extended his hand.

"Stark, my name is Glyph," he introduced himself. "I'm here to help you."

Looking suspicious, Stark glanced at Chase and Ari, asking them, "And he's a friend of yours?"

"We work for Glyph," Ari explained.

"We brought you to him so he could explain everything to you that we can't," Chase added. "If you're willing to listen."

Cautiously Stark shook Glyph's hand.

"Welcome, and follow me," Captain Glyph said with a smile. His casual and light air put the teenager at ease, and Stark followed the captain down the hallway to a lone door.


End file.
